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Category Archives: Teaching
The Flat Earth Experience
In his The Time Machine Weena tries to throw herself in the fire because she has never seen flames before. She doesn’t know that it will burn her and that she should exercise care. She is a figure of profound … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Culture, Supernatural, Teaching
Tagged flat earth, flat earther, flat earthers, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, Weena
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Serendipity and Other People’s Hard Work: Contributing to Intellectual Society
Many years ago, when I used to build computers from found parts, installing hard drives was much more of an ordeal. You needed to look up the serial number of the hard drive in a database—if you were lucky enough … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Internet, Mars, Teaching
Tagged artifical gravity, orbital mechanics, science fiction, simulated gravity, youtube
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The Winter Solstice and Trying to Explain the Movement of the Sun
Many years ago I found myself trying to explain the movement of the sun during the winter to a class in Victoria, British Columbia, and ever since I have been struck by how cultural knowledge can be allowed or disallowed … Continue reading
Posted in Ancient Peoples, Culture, History, Literature, Teaching
Tagged axial tilt, cultural understanding, Earth's axis, pedagogy, Vinland Sagas
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The Best line from a Student Paper
Although I have read many great student sentences over the years, probably the most memorable one is from my student’s essay when I was teaching in the United States. One of my students was writing about Frederick Douglass, the famous … Continue reading
Posted in Media, Teaching, Writing
Tagged common writing errors, Frederick Douglass, slavery, student writing
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How Using Academic Research is like being in an Argentinian Argument
Although many academics tacitly accept that research makes a paper stronger, they don’t exactly examine that premise. In fact, if the paper is well argued, and has evidence it has garnered from the primary text(s), other sources are superfluous. They … Continue reading
Posted in Literature, Teaching, Writing
Tagged Academic research, Argentina, logical argumentation, Research
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What I Learned in Graduate School
By the time students enter university they are not limited to learning from their professors. They still find information in the classroom, and can mine the textbooks for still more, but much of the learning is done by discussing ideas … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Teaching
Tagged Education, Graduate School
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Killing Kids in Books and Film
Perhaps because I teach courses about apocalyptic literature, and I’m an avid fan of end of the world stories, I have read and watched enough of the genre that I’ve noted a significant, if not disturbing trend. This is a … Continue reading
Posted in Literature, Post-Apocalyptic, Teaching, Writing
Tagged Blood and Gore, Children of Men, Cormac McCarthy, Dale Pendell, Dystopia, End of the world, Eternity Road, Frank Darabont, Gratuitous Violence in the Media, Jack McDevitt, Killing Children, Lord of the Flies, Not Quite Dark, Resident Evil, Surviving the Apocalypse, The Great Bay Chronicles of the Collapse, The Road, The Walking Dead, William Golding, Working After the Collapse
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The Type of Material for My Class
I often assign in-class essays for my foreign students and I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what might be the most effective exercise for their skills. To be fair, or perhaps just, I try to avoid … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Culture, Teaching, Travel
Tagged foreign students, Maddie Ziegler, musci video, Shia LaBeouf, Sia, Teaching, TOFL
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The Stars of the Herschels and the Books of our Library
I was thinking of Caroline and William Herschel tonight, counting the many thousands of visible stars, not once being daunted by the enormous task. For most people in the cities, who only hear about the stars by report, or see … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Culture, Teaching
Tagged Caroline Herschel, Escapism, Examined Life, Milky Way, Purpose of Life, Reading, Star Gazing, Teaching, The Library, William Herschel
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