Help Me! Question About Tensors and Projections

I need some help. I am working hard to find ways to bring more geometry into introductory calculus-based physics (and conceptual physics as well). By geometry, I mean specifically the geometry associated with vectors and tensors, and the information encoded therein. Yes, I said tensors. I have been heavily influenced by these notes by Kip […]

Introducing Noether’s Theorem in Conceptual Physics

With little advanced notice, I was assigned a section of conceptual physics to teach this semester (because second semester astronomy was cancelled due to low enrollment and replaced with a section of conceptual physics with the same low enrollment..go figure). After teaching Matter & Interactions for over a decade and after much enlightenment I have […]

Building Up to Simultaneity (Activity)

Here’s a classroom activity intended to demonstrate the issue of simultaneity in measuring a stick’s length. Students need a calibrated metre stick (I’m trying to get into the habit of spelling it that way), another stick approximately 1/3 m long although the precise length is unimportant, two coins of the same denomination or two small pea-size balls […]

Conceptual Understanding in Introductory Phyiscs II: Constant, Invariant, and Conserved Quantities

This post is the second in this series. You can read the background on this series in my previous post. I hope the questions in this series promote some discussion of what the goals of contemporary introductory physics should be these days. Here is the next question. It has multiple parts. In one sentence, explain […]