Comments on: The MV Calculus Final Projects

By: MV Calculus Projects 2010-2011 « Continuous Everywhere but Differentiable Nowhere

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 03:54:59 +0000

[...] I didn’t do a good job of blogging about my projects from previous years. Two years ago, here is what my kids did. And last year, I didn’t really write about it. Yikes! One student did a wonderful [...]

By: Fourth Quarter in Multivariable Calculus « Continuous Everywhere but Differentiable Nowhere

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 02:03:30 +0000

[...] calculus, I’ve designed the course to prevent that from happening. I have a serious fourth quarter project for them — totally designed and executed by them. (They have to make a prospectus, they come [...]

By: Ideas for my 2009/2010 Calculus Project « Continuous Everywhere but Differentiable Nowhere

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:19:40 +0000

[...] Last year, I was given two calculus sections with many, many more students in it — and I couldn’t come up with a feasible way to ramp up this project idea. That year was devoted to trying to figure out how I could effectively teach to so many more students, who were all so varied in ability. (I did, however, had my kids do some amazing multivariable calculus projects.) [...]

By: Dave Richeson

Dave Richeson — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 02:44:55 +0000

Wow, that’s amazing. Good for him. Turned out great.

By: samjshah

samjshah — Sun, 31 May 2009 22:06:19 +0000

@Nick: I know they were, and I really was too. I invited the math teachers and the physics teachers to our project share on the last day of class. I actually felt they were proud of the Kepler paper they wrote (http://samjshah.com/2008/12/07/keplers-laws-reprise/) too. They wanted to send it to their AP Calc teacher!

@Dave: He didn’t use instructions. I pointed him to a bunch of websites and videos, and he used the “freestyle school of carpentry.” There was a great amount of true engineering there: anticipating problems and preventing them before they arose, and then troubleshooting problems once they arose. The hardest part for my student was reducing the amount of friction so the harmonograph would draw for a long period of time.

By: Dave Richeson

Dave Richeson — Sun, 31 May 2009 11:49:53 +0000

Very cool! Where did he (you?) find the instructions for building the harmonograph?

By: Nick

Nick — Sun, 31 May 2009 01:02:49 +0000

Wow, Sam. That video is great, what a cool way to end the year. I imagine they were genuinely proud of what they’d built. That’s a rare achievement.

By: samjshah

samjshah — Sat, 30 May 2009 23:05:53 +0000

@David @Jackie: The only picture I have has the student in it too. So I don’t feel comfortable posting it. Sorry! Next year I’ll keep this in mind!

By: Jackie Ballarini

Jackie Ballarini — Sat, 30 May 2009 14:17:48 +0000

Very cool. I love the video.

I second the request for a picture of the sculpture!

By: David P

David P — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:41:11 +0000

Do you have a picture of the wire sculpture that you could post? It sounds interesting.