Thursday, June 4, 2009

Alexander Calandra: "The Barometer Story"

After reading Alexander Calandra’s “ Angels on a pin: The barometer story” I have become more thankful for open minded professors like him. I believe that his humor and likeability lead him to be chosen as an arbiter by his physics colleague. The situation called for a second opinion on determining the grade on a physics exam for a student who challenged the academic structure of the grading process.

In my own personal experience I noticed through the earlier grades I knew what to expect and how to deliver. My sister was one grade ahead of me, so while watching her go through the motions I became prepared for what to expect in the upcoming school year. It felt almost robotic. Learn the lesson, turn in the assignment and take the exam. It was all very structured. Later I found high school to be a bit more refreshing. The teachers seemed open minded and the class structure and assignments seemed to vary from teacher to teacher.

The process and style of the teaching methods were even more open minded and broad allowing us to show are strengths and individualism. This allowed students who carried more artistic style minds, those who learned more hands on and any students that had a more untraditional way of processing but still saw the objective and reached the same conclusion to be better accepted.

As I raise my own child and instill skills, manners and structure in her life, I most definitely see the purpose behind set teaching skills and reinforced academic structure in the earlier years. I believe that young students need to learn the basics and have a good foundation. Currently I see more and more programs and activities to reach out to students who might learn and absorb the materials better. I see a more modern blend of teaching styles and techniques and it is extremely refreshing to see.

In my eyes this story displays a traditional professor seeking a second opinion from another fair yet more modern physics professor. I believe he sought out Alexander Calandra because he knew his student was on the right track and that times were changing academically. In conclusion the final answer given by the student seemed to be a fair blend of a physics answer and an intelligent well thought out open minded approach. I believe the “almost full credit” grade given by Calandra seemed fair and hope to see more students given the opportunity to re-tune their answers before a zero or incomplete grade is given.

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