David Webb
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djphysicswebb.bsky.social
David Webb
@djphysicswebb.bsky.social
200 followers 570 following 55 posts
Thinks a lot about teaching and learning. Retired physicist. Hunts for demographic inequity within the system. #EduSky 🍎 #Science πŸ§ͺ
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Research suggesting how an exam gender gap can be inflated from zero up to roughly 1/3 of a grade point simply by increasing the stakes of your exams.
Can't help thinking of gaps on a different high stakes exam, the SAT, when I see results like these.
#iTeachPhysics 🎒 #EduSky 🍎 #academia #HigherEd
Proud of the work I published with @djphysicswebb.bsky.social . Gender Gap in intro physics is eliminated when employing retake exams because women do better on the FIRST try - suggesting exam STAKES (not differences in preparation/understanding) explain gender gap. πŸ§ͺ link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/...
High-stakes exams inflate a gender gap and contribute to systematic grading errors in one introductory physics series
A study in introductory physics suggests high-stakes exams are causing a gender gap, rather than measuring it.
link.aps.org
Reposted by David Webb
cry havoc and let slip the frogs of war
Higher ed should be essentially free.
#iTeachPhysics 🎒 #EduSky 🍎 #academia #HigherEd
I'm a professor at the flagship university for the fourth whitest state in the US. Over 80% of our students are white.

The biggest barrier to access here is that due to lack of state funding, we have top 10 highest tuition per capita of public unis in the country.

We also have a food pantry.
oh, we have some straightforward gutter racism. β€œthe blacks and the browns are the reason white people can’t get ahead” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Many refer to those situations as "pronoun fouls".
So much of anyone's success is attributable to luck that every successful person could be feeling guilty all the time, but they mostly shouldn't waste their valuable time that way. Keep doing good work until, hopefully, things get better.
Huh, @cassandrapaul.bsky.social‬ and my paper that showed that demographic biases in physics classes can be removed was referenced by a Sociology professor in an article that showed up in at least 39 different publications yesterday.
#iTeachPhysics 🎒 #Physics βš›οΈ #EduSky 🍎 #academia #HigherEd
Reposted by David Webb
Corgis have an extremely low center of gravity and the density of a dead star.

PERFECT for skateboarding! πŸ˜‡
I liked the original x-men but they weren’t my favorite Marvel heroes. They were a little namby-pamby compared to the new crew. The new group were instantly my favorites. Easily the most striking change in the time I read comics. Loved them all.
Matt Yglesias endorses the theory that men are naturally more inclined toward extreme intelligence over on the other site.
So sorry about this Cassandra! They seem to be tearing up everything aimed at improving people’s lives. I hope things will improve someday but suppose we can’t count on it. Kris is also sorry and sends her best wishes.
Yay, science!
On Friday, my son stayed home from school because he had a sore throat and wasn’t feeling well. He went with my husband to his office for the morning while I handled our daughter. When he came back at lunch, he was not interested in eating, saying his throat hurt too much. 1/n
Reposted by David Webb
any excuse to repost the greatest Tetris story ever, when a reporter went to cover early e-gaming championships and discovered that his wife was unknowingly *the world's greatest Tetris player* by a huge margin

archive.boston.com/news/globe/m...
Re-posting and including picture showing no gender gap on low stakes in-term exams and significant negative gender gap on medium stakes in-term exams. Gender gap on the high stakes final exam is 50% larger than on the medium stakes exams.
#iTeachPhysics 🎒 #Physics βš›οΈ #EduSky 🍎 #academia #HigherEd
Reposted by David Webb
Everyone is weird. Being weird is what makes us human. We are the apes who stopped, thought and embraced weirdness.

Find someone who accepts that you are weird, without judgement.
@cassandrapaul.bsky.social and my new preprint describes how high stakes exams in introductory physics can make it seem like there is a gender gap in learning/understanding physics when, in reality, there is none.
arxiv.org/pdf/2504.09418
#iTeachPhysics 🎒 #Physics βš›οΈ #EduSky 🍎 #academia #HigherEd
arxiv.org
Reposted by David Webb
Shelly-Ann racing in her kid's Parents Day race at the school is the funniest thing I've seen all week LMAO
Reposted by David Webb
It always boggles my mind that I, a journalist, am expressly forbidden from trading stocks, but members of Congress, with vastly greater knowledge of market-moving news, are allowed to profit by front-running markets, and so may profit by in essence stealing from the public they represent.
Reposted by David Webb
As of Friday, there have been 46 cases in which federal judges have blocked Trump policies.

The rulings in those cases have come from 39 different judges appointed by 5 different presidents (of both parties) to 11 different district courts across 7 different circuits.

Maybe it's not the judges?
Never give up, never surrender
Reposted by David Webb
Titled this "Super cute adorable Oak Titmouse" in my folder.

I was not wrong.

Also - TAKE THAT, All About Birds who describe them, "Nondescript save for its crest, the Oak Titmouse might not wow many bird watchers at first sight."

Nondescript my tail feathers!

#birds #becurious
Reposted by David Webb
As computing capabilities increase, the number of digits we'll be able to calculate will also increase.

I think what's so poetic about this:
It's a process that began with the first civilizations and is a thread that weaves through the whole of human history.

It's our story as a species.
Happy #PiDay 2024!

Let's talk about the history of pi (Ο€) and the methods used to approximate it!

We start with the Babylonians (~2000 BCE), who used Ο€ = 3 for architectural projects, or in at least one instance, Ο€ = 25⁄8 = 3.128, which is within 0.5% of the actual value.
Reposted by David Webb
We wrote this open letter to our students reaffirming our educational commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion and access (DEIA). Faculty friends, if this resonates with you, and you feel comfortable doing so, please consider signing this letter, and sharing it widely. medium.com/@dearstudent...
Open Letter to Our College Students
(Add your name to the letter by completing this form.)
medium.com
Reposted by David Webb
At some point the opposition needs to say what is happening here: Donald Trump is a tyrant in the full sense of the term, an American fascist dictator who believes the law flows directly from his command. And he is also a deeply unwell, unfit, and criminal man with nonsensical whims