Monday, February 21, 2011

Welcome! including How a "Dry Gulcher" at BC led to this idea



ATTENTION:   Calling all kids, teachers, coaches, and everyone else!  

This is a place to share your experiences, ideas and questions that relate to running, basketball, swinging on a swing, kicking a soccer ball, riding on a bike, or -- you name it.  You know more than you think you do about physics and geometry.  You use the laws of motion every day and don't even realize it. 

My ultimate goal is for sports and games to be the way to find out about how things work -- which is all that physics is.  Can't you picture the school gym or playground being used as the applied physics lab?  Not only that, this will be a great way to get kids to be more active.  


Do you feel that physics is a scary word?!  So did I.  When I was in high school and trying to decide which science class to take, some classmates told me I didn't want to take physics because it was hard, and since I was more interested in biology anyway, I took that instead.  After high school I had to take chemistry to get into nursing school a few years later.  As a student nurse I began to get a sense of some of the principles of physics.  A few years later I found a book on medical physics (but I made the mistake of loaning it.)  Years later I worked for a neurosurgeon and became more aware of good posture and body mechanics.  Many years have passed since then, but all along I've had an idea of physics being involved with something I was doing, but I didn't know what it was. 

Later, when I raised money for a scholarship named for Rev. Maurice Dullea, S.J., at Boston College, my uncle, I found out that keeping athletics in balance with academics was a very important role for him as faculty moderator of athletics in the 1940s and 50s.  The students called Fr. Dullea "Dry Gulch," a term from the old western movies that were so full of stereotypes (the good guys in white hats and the bad guys in black hats, e.g.).  A "dry gulch" was a surprise attack, and a failing student knew Fr. Dullea would be on the lookout for him, and so he tried to avoid him.  However, Fr. Dullea always materialized!  The student had to confront his problem. 

     

                                                          Fr. Maurice V. Dullea, S.J.                                                                     

Telling this story so often, I started thinking of using athletics to teach academics, specifically, using sports and games to teach physics as well as geometry. (I had also failed miserably at geometry!)  Three years ago I took a class in Physical Science at Quincy College, struggled, but did well in it.  However, the struggle still goes on as I try to really understand gravity and Newton's three laws of mechanical energy, his laws of motion.  (Mechanical energy is only one form of energy.  Other types of energy--related to electricity and magnetism--include chemical energy, electrical energy, radiant energy, and nuclear energy.)

                             3 cheers for:    NEWTON 1-2-3 GO!!!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

AMERICAN EDUCATION


America is notable for many firsts in education.  So, too, is Massachusetts.  NEWTON 1-2-3 GO! is something we need to develop now to help our children become science and math literate.  This is the time to bring education out of the doldrums and use what kids already love to do -- Play!   

America has a great infrastructure to help spread this approach, with its professional sports teams, media, television, film, etc.  The possibilities are endless.  I have loads of ideas.  I need you to brainstorm with me and with each other.  Let's help our kids REALLY learn! 

Friday, February 11, 2011

Racers

POTENTIAL ENERGY

This is the energy of position.  Here the racers are ready at the starting line, foot on the mark, getting set to run.  Muscles are ready!



"Ready, on your mark, get set!"

KINETIC ENERGY

This is the energy of motion.  With the first step, the racers have begun using Kinetic Energy.  Then, with each footstep, the cycle of Potential Energy - Kinetic Energy is repeated over and over.
                                                        "Go!"