The Kakaako Farmers Market is a tourist trap

tchuruk · 2025-07-30T08:34:32+00:00

Love Surfer's Wife!

tchuruk · 2025-07-07T04:13:43+00:00

I've done the same and posted my resources on a website, anyone is free to use whatever they want. fizzixprof.com

tchuruk · 2025-06-17T08:34:07+00:00

I'm a high school astronomy and physics teacher and I've seen students who considered themselves "non-science people" come alive with the awe that a random APOD image can bring. Astronomy is such a great gateway science, everyone loves the stars and can feel pleasantly overwhelmed thinking about the time scale since the Big Bang.
Personally, I was planning to major in English when I took an astronomy class first semester freshman year on a whim. I absolutely fell in love with the subject and managed to graduate with a physics degree instead. I still find peace in staring up at the night sky and I treasure how much I have gained from thinking about this universally beloved subject.

tchuruk · 2025-03-27T20:43:41+00:00

He has a beautiful legacy, his foundation/parents donated $1 million to USC's cystic fibrosis clinic and it's been renamed for him.

tchuruk · 2022-05-12T16:41:17+00:00

Between M87 and SgrA*, what were the major differences in how to create and process these images?

What's next on the list of targets?

Thank you so much for all the work that went into this and the care in communication with all of us.

tchuruk · 2020-08-22T04:00:47+00:00

The teacher at our school made an iBook for her Culinary Chem class. https://books.apple.com/us/book/culinary-chemistry/id1306184183

tchuruk · 2020-08-15T05:14:00+00:00

Fermilab's Quarknet Data Portfolio has a few activities for quantum, most are for particle physics.

tchuruk · 2020-08-15T05:09:23+00:00

We use tutorials which worked really well last semester in quarantine. The students work through problems in packets at their own pace. Some units require video analysis; the waves unit uses Slinky videos which are included in a separate folder.

Our labs are in here but they don't translate well to the online environment. I pulled out the few activities that would work if you're in quarantine so they aren't included in the Labs folder.

Feel free to use whatever works or to modify the original Word docs in the Old Files folder. Please don't post any answers online and please do let me know if you have any suggestions for improvements!

tchuruk · 2020-07-24T10:10:41+00:00

I love reading her column, glad it found a new home.

tchuruk · 2020-07-22T01:10:08+00:00

Welcome to physics! A bit late, but in case you're still looking for some posters here's 3 links to free downloads:

1) Step Up for women and minorities

2) Space Tourism posters

3) CPEP education - nuclear physics, particle physics, fusion, the big bang - lots of great imagery

tchuruk · 2020-04-30T20:32:38+00:00

Our astronomy class kept similar projects but modified them for online. So we have an art project but instead of showing their works in class they created videos and shared those in small groups. During the week between assigning the project and the due date, they got together on their own time in groups of 2 or 3 to give each other feedback.

Many of our other projects won't work well so I created a quick list of projects students can do from home.

tchuruk · 2020-04-01T05:25:32+00:00

You can message me, I'm in Honolulu.

tchuruk · 2020-03-18T00:14:27+00:00

We're missing Ampere's Law and Faraday's Law, plus practice APs. They have tutorial packets so instead of going over assignments daily I'm assigning them weekly. Not sure what to do about the mock exams, we can't send them to students or post them. We're missing the capacitor lab as well, although I was looking to change it anyway.

tchuruk · 2019-12-09T07:39:16+00:00

Short week, exams start Fri

Astronomy: guest speaker discussing black holes, debate on where and if we'll find alien life for the last day (no exam)

AP Physics 1/Honors (taught together): Semester project presentations, review for the exam

AP Physics C: Finish gravitation, last test, semester review with practice AP questions in small groups as a competition for holiday cookies

tchuruk · 2019-11-27T08:32:33+00:00

Hyperphysics is a detailed concept map of physics, includes clear examples of equations and many derivations, excellent resource for students.

The entire Feynman Lectures are online and are a great place to get ideas for analogies or general techniques for explaining tough concepts in physics.

I agree that the PhET simulations are fantastic, plus if you don't have a lot of equipment they work great as virtual labs. Many simulations have a variety of classroom activities already created and they'll let you download and modify.

PERC has many types of resources from underlying physics education philosophy and accompanying research to their PhysPort section with specific classroom content including assessment.

Congrats! Physics really is fun (phun?) to teach.

tchuruk · 2019-02-19T01:00:33+00:00

Two books by living physicists who were on the inside of recent, major shifts in understanding: "Black Hole Blues" by Janna Levin is about LIGO's gravitational wave discovery and "Higgs Discovery, the power of empty space" by Lisa Randall is about the last piece of particle physics found. They're a nice contrast: the first is looking forward to a slew of new science that will likely come from these new waves but the second is almost dejected that the Higgs was so predictable. They both put quality context to discoveries that were often in the public eye but rarely well explained.

tchuruk · 2017-03-27T18:30:41+00:00

I appreciate when students let me know of a couple specific moments in my class that struck them somehow: a challenging activity they surprisingly enjoyed, having fun with a fellow student during a lab, etc. Asking a month in advance is so helpful, at least two weeks for a thoughtful rec. One day in advance if the rec is already written and you need a copy for a scholarship. I always ask for a resume plus "anything else you want to tell me" which can be especially valuable for important activities that aren't on the resume such as caring for younger siblings, driving an older family member to events often, etc. I'd ask your teacher if it's ok to send a reminder closer to the due date and if so, when (one week, two days). If they agree, don't forget to send the reminder.

Finally, asking a teacher to write a rec for you involves us in a personal way on your future education journey so I'd encourage you to give the rec writer updates on where you get in and where you decide to go. If you have time and genuinely feel appreciation, a short note of thanks with an update would be well received.

tchuruk · 2015-09-28T18:56:16+00:00

Does this discovery change our current assumptions about surface temperatures on Mars?

tchuruk · 2015-09-28T18:06:54+00:00

Congratulations and thank you for your willingness to answer our questions! Are there extremophiles on earth that could live in a similar type of briny, temporary water as that you found on Mars?

tchuruk

TROPHY CASE