Monthly Archives: April 2022

This physics graduate teaching assistant put on a master class in relationship-building during the two most difficult academic years I can remember.

Posted on April 29, 2022 by Paul Cottle

Students pursuing bachelors’ degrees in many STEM fields – like engineering, meteorology, chemistry, biology and computer science – must succeed in a college physics course. Whether these students learn physics well depends a great deal on how well they are … Continue reading →

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Florida is doing poorly in K-12 math education. Flogging textbooks will not solve that – only improving the recruiting of great math teachers will.

Posted on April 20, 2022 by Paul Cottle

Florida has some serious problems with K-12 math education. Of the members of Florida’s high school graduating class of 2021, 81% took the SAT. When Florida’s results on the SAT math test are compared with those of other jurisdictions (states … Continue reading →

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Culturally Responsive Teaching in physics means starting a class by meeting students where they are. Florida needs more of that, not less.

Posted on April 16, 2022 by Paul Cottle

Every educator knows that to give students the best chance to learn you must start by meeting them where they are. I can’t imagine that any individual would disagree with that statement. This is the basis of culturally responsive pedagogy … Continue reading →

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Standardized assessments developed by physics education researchers can help tell an important story: Why I use these assessments in my own classes

Posted on April 15, 2022 by Paul Cottle

As I begin writing this post, I’ve just returned from the short drive to my university’s assessment center, where I dropped off a stack of scantron sheets with my students’ post-test answers to the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism … Continue reading →

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Should I change the expectations in my college physics class because of the challenges facing the young people who have endured the pandemic?

Posted on April 9, 2022 by Paul Cottle

In issuing final course grades to students in my introductory calculus-based physics courses this year, I have maintained the same expectations that I had before the pandemic. That may sound callous, since so many students were hit hard by the … Continue reading →

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What do you do if you are ranked #1? If you are Seminole County Public Schools, you work harder.

Posted on April 1, 2022 by Paul Cottle

What do you do when you are the top ranked school district in the state in preparing students for college STEM majors? Apparently, the answer is that you work harder at it. The Seminole County school district has been ranked … Continue reading →

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