nature of science
rallain | June 24, 2010I was having a discussion with my father about the budgetpocalypse for universities. I don't know how it came up, but he asked: "What college is the department of Math in?" At Southeastern Louisiana University, the Department of Math is in the College of Science and Technology.
Here is a paraphrase of our conversation.
Me: That is odd. Math isn't a science, and it isn't really a technology. Well, I guess you could argue it is a technology.
Father: What? Math is a science. It is a pure science.
Me: I don't think it is a science. Science is all about models and seeing how they agree with…
rallain | May 31, 2010So suppose you saw something that looked like this:
This is a ball shot out of a shooter device. Well, it is a vypthon animation of a ball. What would you do if you came to see this video? If I had not made it, I would say it is an unrealistic video. It does not agree with my basic model of how things move after being thrown or shot or whatever. Interestingly (but unrelated) there was a set of physics questions that showed different possible paths of a thrown ball. The path representing the motion above was a common choice.
Like I said, I made that animation. Here is another one. In…
rallain | April 26, 2010I meant to mention this earlier since it happened a little while ago. There is this "mini-conference" with three schools: Southeastern Louisiana University, Southern Mississippi University, and the University of South Alabama. The purpose is to give students (and some faculty) a chance to present their work at a smaller conference. I really enjoy this, mostly because it is small and I get to see lots of undergrad talks. There are two talks that stuck in my head.
Dr. Jiu Ding "Dynamical Geometry: From Order to Chaos and Sierpinski Pedal Triangles"
Jiu Ding is a mathematics professor at…
rallain | February 20, 2010The kind folks over at BloggingHeads TV were nice enough to offer me an opportunity to discuss some science stuff with Ed Grabianowski from io9.com. Here it is:
In this discussion, we talk about:
Learning physics and physics education research
The value of science educators
Good and not so good science on TV
Journalism and 'balance' with regards to science
Science fiction as a guide to the future
rallain | January 30, 2010After judging the science fair last week, I would like to revisit my tips for you the science fair participant.
Warning number 1
Some of the things I say here might go against what your teacher has told you. I am not sure what you should do in this case. Your teacher gives you a grade and I am just some dude on the internet. Proceed at your own risk.
Oh, and maybe you are a teacher. I think that is great that you are seeking more tips for your students. However, note that I have not read any science fair rules. I am merely thinking about science fair projects from a science viewpoint.…
rallain | January 2, 2010I have been meaning to write about this for quite some time. Really, I wanted to reply to Chad's article on science at Uncertain Principles, but you know how things go. So, here are my key and interesting points about science in random order.
Science is all about models (not ball bearings)
Science is about making models. What is a model? A model can be lots of things. It can be a mathematical relationship, a conceptual model, or even a physical model. One model I like to use is static friction. For many cases, the frictional force can be modeled as:
This model says the frictional…
rallain | December 10, 2009This picture has been all over the blogs.
I don't want to talk about this picture too much - that has been done (a good summary discussion can be found at Bad Astronomy). Apparently, this is some type of rocket mistake or something.
Although the picture is cool, it is not as cool as this simulation that someone made.
Here is the best shot from the video:
Maybe that picture didn't turn out so well. The point is that someone made a simulation (I assume it is a simulation, and not just an animation). How do you know if a simulation is any good? You look and see how well it compares with…
rallain | November 2, 2009I am sad to say the following comes from a school that I attended. This was from an alumni newsletter regarding the activities of one of the physics faculty.
"Since the time of Archimedes, sciences advanced along two avenues, through new experiments and through theory...."
I have a problem with just that first part, but it goes on:
"For many centuries, theoretical physicists devised clever mathematical methods to describe many physical phenomena, yet some of the most important ones - like the properties of matter, of proteins and living things, or of weather patterns - are far too…
rallain | June 27, 2009I have already talked about science and why everyone should take some science courses. The short answer (in case you don't want to read the previous post) is that everyone should take science because science (along with art and other stuff) is what humans do.
So, tomorrow I will be off to attend a workshop on a new physical science curriculum. The goal is to bring more active-learning styles courses to large enrollment classes. This is essentially a similar idea to the Physics for Elementary Teachers course that I teach with one major difference - size. I would love to teach the course…
rallain | May 6, 2009I probably should have included this idea on my "All about science" blog post. Maybe I didn't put it in there because if I talk about what science is you can figure out what it is not.
Science is not math
Science is all about making models. It is true that many current models are mathematical models, but it doesn't have to be that way, and it hasn't always been that way. Think about rubbing a piece of metal with a magnet. It gets magnetized - right? What if you then cut that magnet in half? Then you have two smaller magnets. How can you make a model that explains this phenomena? Yes…
rallain | April 16, 2009I have been meaning to write about this for quite some time. Really, I wanted to reply to Chad's article on science at Uncertain Principles, but you know how things go. So, here are my key and interesting points about science in random order.
Science is all about models (not ball bearings)
Science is about making models. What is a model? A model can be lots of things. It can be a mathematical relationship, a conceptual model, or even a physical model. One model I like to use is static friction. For many cases, the frictional force can be modeled as:
This model says the frictional…
rallain | January 18, 2009Podcasts are great. While cleaning the car today, I listened to a new one - Stuff you missed in history class (itunes link). In one episode, they were talking about alternative theories about early visits to America. There was some guy that was claiming the Chinese visited the new world 70 years before Columbus (or something to that effect).
This is a great example of how similar science and history are to each other.
Both science and history make 'models'. In history this may be 'the Chinese visited americas before the Europeans'. It is just like a model in science. It is an idea that…
rallain | September 2, 2008Here I am, at my parents house. There is no power at my house and Louisiana in September with no power is really a whole bunch of no-fun. But maybe I can use this time to talk about science.
**The Nature of Science**
Here is a review. What is science all about? (I am pretty sure I talked about this before) Science is about making observations and from those observations creating models. If the model predicts other things that are confirmed, then that is good. If not, the model must be changed. Really, it's that simple.
**Hurricane Models**
It is somewhat interesting that forecasting…