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How to draw dotted lines on chalkboards, MIT style (2021)

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Re: How to draw dotted lines on chalkboards, MIT style (2021)

#52
post #6

I have to ask. Why is it "white"-board vs. "chalk"-board? Back in elementary school, I learned to call the former "black"-board.

> Back in elementary school, I learned to call the former "black"-board.

Same here. It’s still called black board in my part of the world, I think.

Re: How to draw dotted lines on chalkboards, MIT style (2021)

#53
post #6

I have to ask. Why is it "white"-board vs. "chalk"-board? Back in elementary school, I learned to call the former "black"-board.

Because many chalkboards are a greenish color instead. Even slates are often more dark greyish than black.

Re: How to draw dotted lines on chalkboards, MIT style (2021)

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Is this just because my grade school used cheap low-grade chalk? Most likely yeah. I remember reading here about the fairytale that is Japanese chalk and that US professors were hoarding it. I assume it must feel orgasmic. We didn't have that kind of opulence in Eastern Europe. Chalk and blackboards here sucked ass, including the cleanup process students were responsible for. Schools switched to whiteboards and mark…

While it's not manufactured by the same company anymore, a Korean company bought the formula and sells it on Amazon now! [0] So, you, too, can see what the hype is all about, if you want! At $0.39 per piece of chalk, it is, indeed, expensive. But, it is also a much different experience from writing with ordinary chalk. --- [0]: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01HDNUXBW

> All Hagoromo chalks are well coated to prevent hands from coming into contact with chalk dust when using. Never have to worry about stained, dusty hands when using chalk ever again

You mean not having messy hands after writing on a blackboard is a thing? You mean my whole life was a lie?

Re: How to draw dotted lines on chalkboards, MIT style (2021)

#55
I was at school in the 80s and 90s in the UK and this brings back very fond memories of a highly eccentric Latin teacher I had, who mastered this technique and used it frequently. The other memorable thing about him was how he'd tell us he was going to do some photocopying and head off with no paperwork, only to return 5 minutes later still with no paperwork but smelling of pipe smoke.

Some more modern classrooms had the greenish boards that were a continuous loop that you could roll, but the older ones had black ones that were extremely heavy (maybe slate?). Some of them had a counterbalanced pair on ropes and pulleys in wooden runners, so that when you slid one up the other would come down. I remember in one lesson the ropes snapped and the front-most board came whistling down like a guillotine past the face of the maths teacher and landed with a bang like a gunshot. He was unhurt luckily but was extremely pale and shaken - understandably!

Re: How to draw dotted lines on chalkboards, MIT style (2021)

#56
post #31

Chalk boards are very visceral, Bringing a chalkboard instead of powerpoint when giving a presentation, makes for a much better presentation, A whiteboard is almost as good but does not have the same impact as a chalkboard.

One big part is that writing speed gives a natural limit of how fast the material can be presented. With PowerPoint it’s easy to lose the audience, especially in math heavy stuff where taking notes really helps with understanding. If the presentation is in PowerPoint, there is no way I can keep up.

While I agree in principle, I can tell you from extensive first hand experience on both sides that it's extremely easy to lose the audience with math heavy content on a blackboard too.

The only thing that I found to be really useful is for the students to already be familiar with the content (having actually prepared for the lesson), and the live session only reviewing it and then focusing on the deeper or most confusing parts.

Re: How to draw dotted lines on chalkboards, MIT style (2021)

#57
post #10
post #6

I have to ask. Why is it "white"-board vs. "chalk"-board? Back in elementary school, I learned to call the former "black"-board.

Regional variation? When I was growing up (in California, in the 1970s and 80s), we called them chalkboards because, you know, you used chalk to write on them. Also, they were often green. Do you call it 'soda' or 'pop'?

"Soda pop" is also a valid answer.

Re: How to draw dotted lines on chalkboards, MIT style (2021)

#58
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While it's not manufactured by the same company anymore, a Korean company bought the formula and sells it on Amazon now! [0] So, you, too, can see what the hype is all about, if you want! At $0.39 per piece of chalk, it is, indeed, expensive. But, it is also a much different experience from writing with ordinary chalk. --- [0]: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01HDNUXBW

> All Hagoromo chalks are well coated to prevent hands from coming into contact with chalk dust when using. Never have to worry about stained, dusty hands when using chalk ever again You mean not having messy hands after writing on a blackboard is a thing ? You mean my whole life was a lie?

FWIW, there are such things as chalk holders, also called chalk chucks.

(As a tongue-twister, do you now have chalk chuck shock? :)

Re: How to draw dotted lines on chalkboards, MIT style (2021)

#59
post #49
post #6

I have to ask. Why is it "white"-board vs. "chalk"-board? Back in elementary school, I learned to call the former "black"-board.

Hypersensitivity to the word "black". Comments about "chalkboard" being more accurate should only be accepted if the proponent also uses "penboard".

I think you are projecting your own hypersensitivity into your understanding of the topic.

Green chalkboards, like my schools had as a kid, were not black.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackboard points out "Green porcelain enamel surface, was first used in 1930, and as this type of boards became popular, the word "chalkboard" appeared. In the US green porcelain enamelled boards started to appear at schools in 1950s."

To double-check, see the Google Ngram comparison at https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=blackboard%2Cc...

The use of "chalkboard" doesn't really exist before the 1940s, and increases rapidly in the 1950s, reaching the current rate (of about 50% of the usage of "blackboard") in the the 1960s.

Re: How to draw dotted lines on chalkboards, MIT style (2021)

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One big part is that writing speed gives a natural limit of how fast the material can be presented. With PowerPoint it’s easy to lose the audience, especially in math heavy stuff where taking notes really helps with understanding. If the presentation is in PowerPoint, there is no way I can keep up.

While I agree in principle, I can tell you from extensive first hand experience on both sides that it's extremely easy to lose the audience with math heavy content on a blackboard too. The only thing that I found to be really useful is for the students to already be familiar with the content (having actually prepared for the lesson), and the live session only reviewing it and then focusing on the deeper or most confu…

Of course - what also helps is that writing speed with chalk is somewhat slower than writing speed with pen & paper, so that gives the audience some opportunity to catch up.
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