Visualizing the textbook for fun and profit
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Visualizing the textbook for fun and profit
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Re: Visualizing the textbook for fun and profit
#2My attempt at visualizing (and simulating) an online physics text book for my students.
https://landgreen.github.io/physics/index.html
I've heard the argument that making it easier to quickly understand something reduces long term understanding. That's probably true if it reduces the time spent thinking about the subject, but I hope that by making the visualization process easier there is more time for reinforcement through example problems.
Re: Visualizing the textbook for fun and profit
#3Was expecting visuals but all I got was a bunch of paragraphs..
Re: Visualizing the textbook for fun and profit
#4My attempt at visualizing (and simulating) an online physics text book for my students. https://landgreen.github.io/physics/index.html I've heard the argument that making it easier to quickly understand something reduces long term understanding. That's probably true if it reduces the time spent thinking about the subject, but I hope that by making the visualization process easier there is more time for reinforcement…
I appreciate that use of KaTeX allows for faster Math rendering. Since developing intuition about problems can be increased by seeing multiple examples, can you leverage this speed to generate a specific example from a template and some sample values for a variable each time you interact with a student ?
It seems part of the trick is generating good collections of interacting values that are easy to present such as all rational numbers or all integers.
Aren’t these related to a Hamiltonian circuit of a elliptical values ?
Re: Visualizing the textbook for fun and profit
#5My attempt at visualizing (and simulating) an online physics text book for my students. https://landgreen.github.io/physics/index.html I've heard the argument that making it easier to quickly understand something reduces long term understanding. That's probably true if it reduces the time spent thinking about the subject, but I hope that by making the visualization process easier there is more time for reinforcement…
I appreciate that use of KaTeX allows for faster Math rendering. Since developing intuition about problems can be increased by seeing multiple examples, can you leverage this speed to generate a specific example from a template and some sample values for a variable each time you interact with a student ? It seems part of the trick is generating good collections of interacting values that are easy to present such as a…
I have a mix of premade examples that try to help students work around a common mistake, and random problems with generated solutions in KaTex math notation. Although, my experience is that the randomized problems don't seem to be as valuable as the hand crafted ones.
I don't think I fully understand the "Hamiltonian circuit of elliptical values" question.
Re: Visualizing the textbook for fun and profit
#6I don’t know about you, but reading that first paragraph of the organic chemistry textbook was not a drag. It may not have been Carl Sagan’s Cosmos but I don’t understand how any generally curious person wouldn’t find it interesting. For the record I never took anything beyond Chemistry I in college.
Re: Visualizing the textbook for fun and profit
#7My attempt at visualizing (and simulating) an online physics text book for my students. https://landgreen.github.io/physics/index.html I've heard the argument that making it easier to quickly understand something reduces long term understanding. That's probably true if it reduces the time spent thinking about the subject, but I hope that by making the visualization process easier there is more time for reinforcement…
Fwiw, apropos the friction page[0], yesterdayish I saw a recent Friction video[1], which told a causation story of transient bonding, which prompted me to dig up a talk[2] by Mark Robbins (Johns Hopkins, but recently deceased). I saw a variant of it a year or few back at Harvard, and IIRC, he suggests Phys101-flavor Amontons'-laws friction was dominated by interfacial debris mechanics. Rather than by boding or direct interference. He told a fun story of a historical experiment replica, which gave unexpected results, until taken to a K-12 outreach event, where finger grease was helpfully added. Amontons' laws of large objects sliding on pig fat.
There's often a large gap between education content and research understanding. The pipeline flows neither smooth nor fast. Even simple things, like the color of the Sun, can be pervasively wrong. Let alone hard things, like friction. And there's almost no use of deep research understanding to craft novel learning progressions. If anyone has heard of efforts with this kind of focus, I'd appreciate hearing of them - thanks!
[0] https://landgreen.github.io/physics/notes/force/friction/ [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCe6UyNyPTg [2] https://online.kitp.ucsb.edu/online/suspensions-c18/robbins/ (with less than wonderful slides)
Addendum: re "Examples of visible thermal radiation: [...] the yellow part of fire (not the blue)", my understanding is this is another common misconception, and that candle yellow, while having a spectra shaped similar to blackbody radiation, is actually the mess of soot C-C bond emission spectra. It's way too cool to be blackbody - you'd have to be able to put a bit of metal in the flame, and have it too glow as bright and white-rather-than-red. Err, well, just since we're here, re "thermal emission [...] hottest to coldest: blue, white, yellow,", the Planck curve doesn't go through yellow: blue-white-red. It's a quick way to see if software is getting its chromaticity math wrong, though that happily seems less common now than it was a few years ago.
Re: Visualizing the textbook for fun and profit
#8My attempt at visualizing (and simulating) an online physics text book for my students. https://landgreen.github.io/physics/index.html I've heard the argument that making it easier to quickly understand something reduces long term understanding. That's probably true if it reduces the time spent thinking about the subject, but I hope that by making the visualization process easier there is more time for reinforcement…
This is incredible, thank you!
Re: Visualizing the textbook for fun and profit
#9My attempt at visualizing (and simulating) an online physics text book for my students. https://landgreen.github.io/physics/index.html I've heard the argument that making it easier to quickly understand something reduces long term understanding. That's probably true if it reduces the time spent thinking about the subject, but I hope that by making the visualization process easier there is more time for reinforcement…
Fwiw, apropos the friction page[0], yesterdayish I saw a recent Friction video[1], which told a causation story of transient bonding, which prompted me to dig up a talk[2] by Mark Robbins (Johns Hopkins, but recently deceased). I saw a variant of it a year or few back at Harvard, and IIRC, he suggests Phys101-flavor Amontons'-laws friction was dominated by interfacial debris mechanics. Rather than by boding or direct…
It's always funny/annoying when a teacher confidently presents misinformation. I still remember my biology teacher told me deoxygenated blood was actually blue. (it's dark red)
I'll review those slides you linked. Teaching friction is "rough"...
Wikipedia is still going with black body radiation as the source of the yellow color of fire. Maybe I should find better sources, although normal wikipedia is great for physics. Does anyone have any sources where I could learn more about the color of flame?
Re: Visualizing the textbook for fun and profit
#10An electron density representation is easier to visualize. And far less epicycle-ly than orbitals. And easier to avoid error and artifact ("layer after layer", "electron pairs", etc). Chemistry education content is notable for leaving both students and teachers steeped in misconceptions.
Though how/whether it could be used to teach orgo is an open question. I've only seen a couple of isolated attempts. Needing new content, and non-trivial software, with isolated professors, has made progress unlikely, even if possible.
I've an barely-started lockdown project, using ASE/GPAW[1] to precompute trajectories and densities, for an AR browser interactive - playfully tugging on atoms blobbing as small molecules, realistically.
Imagine we taught elephants the way we teach atoms. Here's an early medieval drawing that looks... yikes (they're actually not that bad, so the analogy isn't great). Here's a table model. And a hose model. And an orbiting cell model that has everyone imagining breakdancing jellyfish. But nothing with the slightest resemblance to an elephant photo or toy. Let alone a realistic interactive.
If anyone knows of efforts to do better, I'd appreciate hearing of them - thanks!
[1] https://wiki.fysik.dtu.dk/ase/ https://wiki.fysik.dtu.dk/gpaw/