First PTP

I downloaded and learned how to use Jing, a screen cast technology. Below is an example of a screen cast I made:



I did everything in Microsoft Paint which is why its a little messy. My husband has a Bamboo tablet that you that would make it easier to write formulas and such on the computer.

Questions:
1. I learned that Jing is really easy to use. It is very user friendly and has great media sharing capacities.
2.This technology would be great for an online class, for examples to put on the class website, or for make up work. For example, you could pre-record a lecture so when a student is absent, they just look up the screen cast lecture to catch up on what they missed.
3. The standard in this video was "use vector diagrams to represent the forces acting on an object," (State Core Standard 2, Objective 1, Indicator b). Another standard could be "investigate and compare reflection, refraction, and diffraction of waves," (State Core Standard 5, Objective 1, Indicator b). I could address this standard by recording a screen cast of me playing with an online simulation that teaches students about reflection, refraction, and diffraction.

Physics Apps

Just for the sake of sharing, I found a collection of simple apps for Physics teachers:

Ideas for PTP

First Idea - Learning screen shot technology. I'm going to learn Jing. (5 points)
Second Idea -  Learning Logger Pro including all the tutorials. (10 points)

Video Copyright Critiques

Video 1 

Paul G. Hewitt is an energetic conceptual physics professor who has written text books and published many of his lectures on video. This YouTube patron posted a demo Paul Hewitt performed (it's a really cool demonstration  - please take a minute to watch!)
I believe the youtube poster followed copyright because they acknowledged that the video belongs to Conceptual Physics by Paul Hewitt in the beginning of the video.  They also only posted about 2 minutes worth; many of the videos of his lectures run longer so 2 minutes is most likley 10% or under. Also, the author posted a link to a website where the lectures and materials can be purchased: http://www.mandmvideos.com/, promoting the sale of Conceptual Physics' materials.

Video 2 

This video was posted by the YouTube patron, minutephysics. It is a short video about Schrodinger's Cat, a quantum-mechanical thought experiment.
Since this video is the material of the YouTube patron, they have followed copyright completely.  Any of  one's own material can be shared as much as they want. I do have a question though: what are the usage and copyright rules regarding original material posted on YouTube? If it is the material of the person who posted it, can you consider it creative commons?

Class Website

Here is the URL to my class website:

https://sites.google.com/site/skyhighphysics

What I did to personalize it:
-I have a gadget on my opening page that gives you random optical illusions.
-For my first assignment, I have a physics example from the office.
-My high school was inspired by the movie, Sky High.

Where it all began...

After sitting down to make a website for my IPT class, I remembered the reason I became interested in Physics.
My sophomore year in high school, I watched the Nova on String Theory in an introductory astronomy class.  I became so excited and said, "I want to understand THAT!" My good teacher said, "Well, that's Physics." So, I determined to study Physics.

Over the course of six-seven years, I've done a lot of physics. Lately, I've been discouraged; having finished my physics degree I can't help but wonder: did I learn anything? am I really competent? do I really want to be a contributing physicist?

All these questions wore on my self esteem, until I started watching the Nova episode for the first time in seven years. As I watched I thought to myself, "Yeah, know that. Yup, I know why that is true," etc. it hit me: I UNDERSTOOD the episode! My goal six years ago was to understand physics, and for as much as a bachelor's student can, I think I succeeded!!

Hello, world!

For those of you tech-nerds, you should recognize the opening line; I thought it seemed fitting for a new post on a new blog. ;)