danaleeling

Student evaluations of instructor, course, and course materials provide guidance for the institutions on areas of relative strengths and areas where there may be room for improvement. Term-on-term comparisons between summer 2025 and spring 2025 are confounded by the spring student evaluations only being distributed in online courses. The spring data does not include residential courses, with a few exceptions where a student chose to evaluate a residential course using the online evaluation form.  This report presumes familiarity with the student evaluations form in use at the institution and the results typically seen. The responses were converted to numeric values: Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Instructor evaluations Click to enlarge The overall average for the prompts in the instructor evaluation section was 4.635. While this was an improvement from the 4.502 mean spring 2025, the spring session reflected only online courses. The first prompt has traditi...

Thursday began with the Mathematics explains the Universe video in the morning session. This was used to segue into the laboratory. Is every physical system mathematical? Max Tegmark asserts that the universe is not just mathematical, the universe is only mathematical. In some sense one could argue that if Tegmark is correct, that the universe is fundamentally composed of mathematics, then simulation theory cannot be ruled out. Note that simulation theory does not appear to be experimentally testable, hence simulation theory is not a scientific theory. No test, no science.   However, if the universe is not fundamentally mathematical, then the probability that reality is a simulation has to decrease.  Noting that physical science studies anything that is a physical system, then under the mathematical universe theory any and all physical systems must be obeying mathematical equations. Even a novel or unusual system.  This laboratory exercise also provides ...

The morning session included a high speed abbreviated romp from Hydrogen to Hydrogen hydroxide. All equipment was brought in early morning. Water was secured upon morning arrival. Ptable was on the Smartboard.  An animation of methane was used to show the arrangement of the orbitals. Beginners in hydrogen and isotopes. Orbitals. Crashing through to methane.  And into water, acids, and bases. This was a densely packed lecture. The amount of information imparted led to the students' eyes glazing over by the 60 minute mark. Break was called. This orchid was tested and failed to yield a floral litmus solution. Spathoglottis plicata and Hibiscus rosa-sinensis were both collected the previous day and provided the only source of floral litmus solution this summer. This summer term the whole lab was consolidated onto the south table. This proved more functional than expected. Nicole tests a...

Summer session once again hits electricity on a cold open without the explanatory benefit of high head microhydro systems.  The lecture opened with the introduction to current, voltage, resistance and power  A more compact board layout was employed. Once again the circular form of Ohm's law and the power law were also presented. Then the electrical appliances presentation was used to make calculations of current, resistance, and cost. For the air conditioning calculations the new health center building was used. Telephoto was used to grab the specifications. A spreadsheet was later prepared and shared for the annual calculation. Then the class went to the LRC where the panel was once again back in operation. The class viewing the panel. Mary-ellen and Ruthy setting up a three battery circuit Eric observing as Jonald sets up their first circuit  Eray and Rusty assemble their ci...