What a Day...

Talk about a roller coaster ride! Winter storm and no power to start the day. Then, continued storm and student anxiety over the girl's basketball championship game. 12:45 pm: 85% of the high school population leaves for the game and the rest of us hang out until the bell rings. Then, everyone in Essex County had to grab a shovel and get down to serious shoveling. Whew!

As for academics, Physics had a discussion about the concept of entropy. We related this to our previous study of the 2nd law of thermodynamics and the pattern of heat transfer between objects. One block of Honors Physics had their own entropy lecture and the other block had a class population of 4 students. We will conduct that discussion tomorrow for that class during the planned exam review period. Physical Science conducted a lab on light polarization and the function of polarizing filters. They then viewed several video clips to further examine and illustrate the concept of polarization. Tomorrow, our discussion of electromagnetic waves will touch again on polarization (since EM waves are modeled as transverse waves) and we will also dip our toes in the Doppler Effect.

On a high note - my grant proposal was accepted for funding by the Georgetown Education Foundation. This funding will allow me to purchase 6 Vernier Dynamics systems for the physics program. These tracks are used like the old-fashioned linear air tracks: they provide a very low-friction environment for studies of motion, collisions and energy conservation. Experiments we did this year with a cart rolling on the lab table will be done in the future with this system to provide far more accurate results. This will be a big help for MCAS preparation and for mathematical modeling for upper-division students. A HUGE shout of thanks to the GEF, Superintendent Carol Jacobs and HS Principal Peter Lucia for their support of physics education at GMHS and for promoting the use of classroom technology district wide. The kids are definitely going to benefit from this infusion of equipment into the program.