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Physics! Blog!

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. – Samuel Beckett

Tag: homework

May Course Evaluations: Homework

Now that the year is over, it is time to do the post-game analysis and start making plans for changes for next year. I am thinking about making a few posts that contain some selections from my spring course evaluations and my thinking about the relevant topics. I’m not sure whether these posts are of… Read More May Course Evaluations: Homework

June 12, 2012 Kelly O'Shea7 Comments

Student views on No Physics Homework

I wrote earlier about not assigning specific homework in my classes, a move that I made starting in the 2nd semester last year. I was so happy about how it went last year that I basically continued the policy this year. On my course evaluations two weeks ago, I asked a couple of questions that… Read More Student views on No Physics Homework

January 18, 2012 Kelly O'Shea4 Comments

Effort vs Luck

Now that we are out of September, my students have enough work to do outside of class that I don’t need to assign any specific homework. Still, this view of in-class and out-of-class work is a huge paradigm shift for my students. Do they still have physics homework if there’s never anything “due” or that… Read More Effort vs Luck

October 10, 2011October 10, 2011 Kelly O'Shea16 Comments

Conjunctive Standards-Based Grading

I’ve had a lot of requests lately to explain my grading system, so I thought I would outline it in as much detail as possible here. I learned this summer that what I do is apparently called “conjunctive scoring”. That is, students cannot compensate for a low score in one area (say, their understanding of forces)… Read More Conjunctive Standards-Based Grading

August 2, 2011July 23, 2015 Kelly O'Shea46 Comments

Honors Physics Course Information Handout

John challenged us to share our course syllabi. Here is my latest (possibly final?) draft for this year. I would call this more of a course reference sheet than a syllabus since it doesn’t talk about what we’re going to learn. It’s more about how we’re going to learn it. My document’s genealogy goes back… Read More Honors Physics Course Information Handout

July 28, 2011 Kelly O'Shea7 Comments

The No Homework Experiment

After reading Alfie Kohn’s The Homework Myth, I told my classes that I wanted to try an experiment. No homework from the start of the 2nd semester through the first test. I had a feeling that the homework wasn’t really doing much for my students, and I wanted to see how/if things would change when… Read More The No Homework Experiment

June 24, 2011 Kelly O'Shea9 Comments

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About Me

I teach high school kids physics at a progressive, independent day school in NYC. Thoughts and opinions expressed here are of course my own and not my school's. Less homework, more thinking.

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