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The Academics Thread


Pariah

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President of Stanford University announces resignation after reviews of his papers show a pattern of serious issues.

 

From NYT:

Quote

The panel’s 89-page report, based on more than 50 interviews and a review of more than 50,000 documents, concluded that members of Dr. Tessier-Lavigne’s labs engaged in inappropriate manipulation of research data or deficient scientific practices, resulting in significant flaws in five papers that listed Dr. Tessier-Lavigne as the principle author.

 

In several instances, the panel found, Dr. Tessier-Lavigne took insufficient steps to correct mistakes, and it questioned his decision not to seek a correction in the 2009 paper after follow-up studies revealed that its key finding was incorrect.

 

 

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16 hours ago, Pariah said:

Facebook meme: "Is there a science camp for adults? Like I just want to help someone dig up dinosaurs or count mushrooms or weigh turtles for like a week."

 

Response: "I think that's called grad school."

 

Response to response: "The pay is the same."

 

That, and that if it's grad school you're there for years rather than a week or two.

 

=== merged posts ===

 

Drawn by the recent movie about the man, the BBC has published a retrospective essay about J Robert Oppenheimer by someone who knew him.  I admit I haven't seen the movie and probably won't, really.    What surprises me is that there's very little in that essay, other than a few stray details, that I didn't already know; this is kind of old lore in the world of physics, and if you've read more or less any history surrounding the development of modern physics in the 1890-1945 era, there are at least hints about this stuff in most of those works. 

 

Oppenheimer was one of the brilliant odd ducks that seem to have cropped up in several sciences in the late 19th and first half of the 20th Centuries: unsettled, multilayered, perhaps genuinely unstable personalities, far broader interests than gets attributed to scientists by those who don't know them, that found their havens in the cutting-edge frontiers of their disciplines.  I think the only thing in that history I have trouble understanding is how Groves came to select Oppenheimer for head of the lab.  Given Groves' remarkable achievements in what we now call project management, I'll chalk that up to him.

Edited by Cancer
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Math is about to get easier! 

From the LA Times, may be behind a paywall. 

 

California approves math overhaul to help struggling students. But will it hurt whiz kids?

 

Quote

California education officials on Wednesday approved a long-studied overhaul of the state’s math teaching guide, with sweeping changes designed to make the subject more relevant and accessible, stirring debate over whether it will improve poor student achievement or harm learning for 5.8 million public school students.

 

The 1,000-page teaching framework before the state Board of Education was approved unanimously, culminating a process that has taken more than four years and three versions.

 

The guide emphasizes replacing traditional instruction with a focus on “big ideas” with the hope that students with varying math skills can work together in the same class for most of their schooling and reverse the state’s low math achievement levels. Critics predict a decline in math achievement from what they see as watered-down curriculum and teaching approaches that they say rely more on ideology than research.

 

The framework is not a mandate that school districts must follow — and the adopted guide stresses the importance of local control — but the document is influential. Textbooks publishers, school districts and those who train teachers will rely on it, and its influence extends beyond California.

 

The framework embraces the goal “that all students develop deep skills and a love of mathematics and that many more choose to pursue a science, technology, engineering, or math major in college or pursue other careers that benefit from quantitative knowledge and reasoning.”

 

The guide presents teaching strategies at all grade levels and connects the instruction of young children to advanced high school math and college-level work. There’s a particular emphasis on “equity” by raising the achievement of Black and Latino students and those from low-income families. ...

 

I understand the impulse, their hearts are in the right place, but... I don't know. I wasn't a math teacher though I did consider it. The classroom realities may make this very desirable. 

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Taught the astronomy merit badge to a bunch of tired middle-school aged Scouts last weekend.  It went reasonably well considering, except that the moon was on the wrong side of the planet.  If I teach it again I'll have to be better about scheduling the moon to be where it needs to be.

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It is finished.

 

Now I just have to wait for the grades on the two projects, and I can start on the paperwork for my new endorsement(s).

 

Meanwhile, I report back for professional development and prep time (what was called "inservice meetings" in my Mom's day) a week from Monday.

 

Shortest summer break ever.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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