It’s a Lesson…It’s a Study Guide…No, it’s a Moodle Quiz!

It’s a Lesson…It’s a Study Guide…No, it’s a Moodle Quiz!

That’s right! Ever thought about using a quiz for a lesson? Or how about as a study guide? It’s easy, and it’s all in how you set it up. Instead of an assessment tool, re-purpose as an active learning activity where students can: Watch a video clip. Go to websites...

Thinking Inside The Box

Thinking Inside The Box By Brian Sweeney I spent two years in Germany with the U.S. Army, providing bomb disposal support to highly classified missions.  I would get a call telling me to get to an airfield within usually 6 hours, without being told where I was going...
Lifetime Writing Prompt & Order of Magnitude

Lifetime Writing Prompt & Order of Magnitude

Instead of telling the students what the concept of order of magnitude is, I let them discover its meaning through a writing prompt. Following is the prompt statement (derived from a Just-In-Time physics question), the students’ results, & the lead up to the...
An Argument Against Averaging Student Grades & Using the Killer Zero

An Argument Against Averaging Student Grades & Using the Killer Zero

Averaging student grades is an inaccurate way of measuring what they’ve achieved in class. At the end of the semester, do you add up all the points a student has earned throughout the term and then divide that number by the total amount of points possible to...

Own It: Learn How to Learn

When I look back on my college education I see class time spent listening to lectures and watching instructors work math problems on the board. Seldom, if ever, were we students given class time to think something through or work something out for ourselves.  If...