Update on both classes

In Mr. Ambrose's physics class, they just got back their first test today. Some of them were happy with how they did, but some of them would like to have done better. I've let them know that tutoring will be available from NSBE, and some of them do seem interested in it. A few of them may find it very helpful to get caught up.

So far, they've gone through one-dimensional kinematics. The next thing they're going to be doing is going over vectors, in preparation for two-dimensional kinematics. I was talking with Mr. Ambrose about how to get the concepts illustrated, possibly through some kind of lab or activity.

In Ms. Colwell's algebra class, they're getting ready for a test tomorrow. I was helping some of them work problems in class, and I noticed something interesting. Many of them really do have the right idea, and can do the problems if you ask them what each step is, but they seem to lack confidence. That may be something that practice would remedy. It's a big problem, though, since I can see it holding many of them back. They're given an equation to solve, and they know what to do, but they don't feel confident that they're doing it right.

Recently, they've been working on solving equations, on functions (also on recognizing what is and is not a function), and on word problems - taking a problem and formulating the equation, then solving it. It seems to me that they do need more practice on word problems, as well as solving equations, but most of them understand what a function is pretty well.