Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Just two more things I have to say about my mechanics lab class last Wednesday.

First, for the next two weeks the afternoon class will be meeting with the morning class. This is because of a faculty meeting this coming Wednesday, and the opening ceremonies of the College Sports Fest, which coincides with the inauguration of the new covered court.

For the first rescheduling, six groups will perform the experiment on Projectile Motion. Fortunately, there are six setups for this.

The session on October 27 is a bit more difficult, because there are only four setups for the experiment on Composition of Concurrent Forces. There are five, in reality, but not complete sets. Overall, only three are complete. I might have to have three groups merge for this set up. However, I might think of a solution in the next ten days. In the meantime, maybe I should order the missing parts that will complete the other two sets.

Lastly, also concerned with merging, in the afternoon session it was the third time in four sessions that one student had to perform the activity by himself. Technically his classmates should already receive a failing grade, unless they have already officially dropped and I have not yet received a notice from the Registrar’s office.

I have decided that starting next meeting he will be joining one of the two groups of three. That leaves me with only two groups (of seven students total) in the afternoon class, while I have a full set of four groups (fifteen students total) in the morning class.

Wednesday was when David also showed me the electronic hundred-meter dash timer that Executive Vice President Doc Arnie wants us to set up. He arranged three of the eight light sensors aligned with laser pointers (bought from a kiosk in a mall instead of being ordered through the purchasing office), which was interfaced to a computer program he coded.

There was just a problem with the sensors not being in the sight of the lasers, and where it will be set up (along one of the corridors?) and if it will be permanent.

My first class last Thursday was Mathematical Methods 1, where we had word problems concerning inequalities. Unintentionally I only discussed quadratic inequalities, not having looked at the part of the book earlier where the word problems using inequalities of degree one were.

The problems for profit were strange because they already gave the quadratic expression for the cost given x items produced, instead of giving a realistic description of the derivation. I also do not know if the students can accept that going beyond selling a certain number of items will not earn the seller a profit.

There was another example for quadratic inequalities, and this one used the perimeter and area of a rectangular plot of land with fencing. It might have been a bit too analytical for the students to get the needed expressions.

I only gave three problems, then used the remaining one third of the period for an exercise where they could ask me questions, just so I could make sure they understood the lesson before the quiz the next day.

I hear the bell. I’ll continue this next week. Class dismissed for the week.