Swizzles, arcminutes, and clouds in laboratories six, seven, and eight

Laboratory six on heat was replaced by an exercise that had previously been done on Fridays as a midterm assessment. 

I generated data and the students had until 5:00 PM to generate a laboratory report on that data. I let them tell me what to do. Because we had three hours I reduced the structure and framing from the Friday sessions. I told them only that I thought there was a relationship between swizzles and velocity, but I did not tell them how to set up the data gathering. I simply said I would do what I was told.

Marlin and his partner Hart made a request that I swizzle at specific rates as low as one third of a Hertz. One third, one half, one, two, and three Hertz exactly. I found I could not keep time, so I downloaded the Soundbrenner metronome app and used that to time my swizzles. This forced a new way to swizzle where I would pulse and rest. That was something I had not considered doing before. I ran the runs uphill to avoid the slight slope that might confound the data. This approach was outside of the box but reminded me of the benefit of reducing structure whenever possible.

JacyAnn in the 11:00 session.

Laboratory seven now no longer included the Google Earth focus and went more directly after the conversion factor for meters to arcminutes. The loss of hide and seek Wednesday also meant that there was no set up of what 0.001 arcminutes meant in terms of finding me. So that discussion was also tossed. 

Laboratory seven also functioned as an introduction to the geosciences, with a video on geology having filled in for Monday and Wednesday.

Then I outlined the structure of the laboratory and the data to be gathered. In the morning session this led rather naturally to the considering the circumference of the earth. We had returned to the classroom and I could not pull up the 1846 meter per arcminute value on my phone. So I ran with multiplying by 60 and 360. I could Google up the circumference of the earth. And we were darn close.

Running against Google equatorial circumference of 40075 allowed calculation of a raw and percentage error. 

In the afternoon no rain break occurred, really a rarity for this lab. With rain problematic I attempted something that I was certain would be fraught with error: working under the roof. 

Rain was blowing in under the roof.

With North oriented at the top of the image, one can see that the covered sidewalk makes a significant angle with east. This would show up in the data, but the class is pre-trigonometric. I did not try to tackle the issue of the angle altering the results. Linear regressions confuse some of my students. Throwing in a cosine would obliterate the concepts I am hoping to have the students focus on. Still, perhaps this is something that has to be chased given the angle of the sidewalk.  

The tape measure was laid out and arcminute readings were taken every ten meters.

Where possible we moved the GPS units to the edge of the sidewalk to improve their skyview.

The units are waterproof. This lab has been done under  rain, soggy and wet. But with students in masks and all of the precautions being taken, going out under the rain felt inappropriate.

The 2262 meter per arcminute result is thought to be due to the angle of the sidewalk and is the largest conversion factor yet obtained. The sidewalk lines up at 20° north of east. This suggests an easterly component of 2126 meters per arcminute - still high but not as high. 

Laboratory eight was perhaps the sketchiest - literally. I returned the laboratory to its roots from thirteen years ago and brought back Luke Howardian cloud drawing. I also used the lab to introduce precipitation types. 

I covered the subtleties of orographic precipitation for islands such as Pohnpei, Saint Croix, and the Hawaiian islands. Windward is not always rainiest. Pehleng is.

Then a brief review of cloud types. 

Carmina, Jaylino, Devon, Pendura engaged with drawing.

Marlin and Belsin

Hart and MJ

I have to say that I had forgotten how earnestly a section can engage with the material. I am reminded that perhaps, like a good mentalist magic trick, the key is somewhere in the set up. I think the Luke Howard story is important to this set up. I also noted that this was, at one time, midterm relief. 

This term I also presaged the upcoming colors of light material. How many colors are there?

Rojane, Rhea, Miyuki, Loyida

JacyAnn, Semihma

Rhea

Loyida, Miyuki

Of some concern at this point is that five students have been withdrawn for non-participation. The most recent was a student with four lab absences and not a single assignment submitted. This represents what for me is a staggering 25% loss rate. I do not lose 25% of my students. 

Each loss has a reason. One was a young woman for whom getting out of the house was the goal in order to be with her boyfriend - I know because I spoke to her on campus. She said she plans to take the course next term. Not much I can do about that sort of loss. The hybrid class gave her an excuse to leave the house. 

One student left Pohnpei by ship to attend a funeral in the outer islands and would not be back in any reasonable length of time. 

A third student has a track record from residential instruction of not doing work, or only doing just enough to scrape through a course with a C or D. And though only with lots of prodding. Prodding that is effectively absent in the online world. 

A fourth when asked why they had done no work, submitted nothing, simply said that the nonsubmission was their own fault. They did not elaborate and I did not press. 

The fifth attended a single lab class third week and then never again. No work was ever submitted. The student just disappeared. 

With only 20 at the start, the class is punching under its weight at 15 students.