Michael Lerner
@lernerphysics.bsky.social
HS physics teacher, STEMteachersCLE president, and writer of the world-famous watermelon-on-wheels question
Yes! And, tell them that. The explanatory power of energy is not great, but the applicability is huge. All tools have strengths and weaknesses. I understand the pedagogical goal of understanding, but I adore the thinking-like-a-physicist that comes from actively ignoring with energy.
October 20, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Yes! And, tell them that. The explanatory power of energy is not great, but the applicability is huge. All tools have strengths and weaknesses. I understand the pedagogical goal of understanding, but I adore the thinking-like-a-physicist that comes from actively ignoring with energy.
Offer to host a study group at the house so the kid can practice explaining and to make sure the goal is everyone gets better at all the parts of physics
October 8, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Offer to host a study group at the house so the kid can practice explaining and to make sure the goal is everyone gets better at all the parts of physics
Day 27: Pictures are the Answer. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-27-givin...
Day 27: Giving Back the Test and Learning from Mistakes
I didn't write a blog for Friday; it was a test day.
Today, I passed back the test. I wanted to point out a particular problem that almost every student missed. The problem didn't look like a...
lerner180.posthaven.com
September 29, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Day 27: Pictures are the Answer. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-27-givin...
Day 25: Starting the Wave Model of Light. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-25-start...
Day 25: Starting the Wave Model of Light
We got out the tiny little wave tank, which is so worth it, since I use them so much more than I would ever use the old larger wave tanks. We saw just how much more difficult it would be to draw...
lerner180.posthaven.com
September 25, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Day 25: Starting the Wave Model of Light. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-25-start...
Day 24: Reviewing the Mechanical Wave Model. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-24-revie...
Day 24: Reviewing Mechanical Wave Model
In one class, I finally said why I called this unit the mechanical wave model, since mechanical waves cannot use a vacuum as its medium. (I always mention that a vacuum is not a vacuum cleaner, as...
lerner180.posthaven.com
September 24, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Day 24: Reviewing the Mechanical Wave Model. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-24-revie...
And now today's #teach180, for Monday. We did two sound labs today with basically the same equipment! lerner180.posthaven.com/day-23-two-l...
Day 23: Two Labs!
I know these are just simple cylinders with a piston, but I really like how I can do two labs in one day with this equipment, in two different ways.
First, we use the speaker, tune it to a...
lerner180.posthaven.com
September 22, 2025 at 10:54 PM
And now today's #teach180, for Monday. We did two sound labs today with basically the same equipment! lerner180.posthaven.com/day-23-two-l...
OK, this is my #teach180 for day 23, which was Friday. But writing it today made me realize that I'm trying to be the adult that can help by making teachers' lives easier. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-22-sprea...
Day 22: Spreadsheets (Again) and Going over Possible
Friday was a homecoming assembly, so we had a shorter class. Plus my mind was on spreadsheets, again. We used to use this not-ideal way to sign up for parent-teacher conferences which meant that...
lerner180.posthaven.com
September 22, 2025 at 10:47 PM
OK, this is my #teach180 for day 23, which was Friday. But writing it today made me realize that I'm trying to be the adult that can help by making teachers' lives easier. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-22-sprea...
Days 21 and 22: Writing a blog every day is hard! lerner180.posthaven.com/days-21-and-...
Days 21 and 22: Three Types of Standing Waves
Yesterday, after a quick review of homework, we looked at a string vibrator and the different standing waves we could get on the string. The ability for students to touch it, and realize that it...
lerner180.posthaven.com
September 19, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Days 21 and 22: Writing a blog every day is hard! lerner180.posthaven.com/days-21-and-...
Day 20: Two great problems to ask your students about mechanical waves, which honestly explains why proportional reasoning needs to be explicit about what stays constant. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-20-cleve...
Day 20: Clever Hans & Problem Solving
We did one of my favorite introductory problems today in AP Physics 2. It's a series of two problems that lulls them into complacency:
Oh, you're asking how the wavelength will...
lerner180.posthaven.com
September 16, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Day 20: Two great problems to ask your students about mechanical waves, which honestly explains why proportional reasoning needs to be explicit about what stays constant. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-20-cleve...
Day 19: How Waves Reflect, and how a college visit disrupted AP Physics C. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-19-how-w...
Day 19: How Waves Reflect
After a little practice of wave superposition, I showed how waves reflect off fixed and free ends. We then went outside to watch two slinkies of different mass densities so we can see how waves...
lerner180.posthaven.com
September 15, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Day 19: How Waves Reflect, and how a college visit disrupted AP Physics C. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-19-how-w...
Join any time. A bit of reflection every day helps. But I will admit it's best to start at the beginning of the year, because then, at the end, you have an even better record (and understanding) of how the year went.
September 12, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Join any time. A bit of reflection every day helps. But I will admit it's best to start at the beginning of the year, because then, at the end, you have an even better record (and understanding) of how the year went.
Day 18 of #teach180 #iteachphysics: Getting the students to explain beats on their own. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-18-teach...
Day 18: Teaching Waves in a Different Order
I embraced concept, then definition today in a slightly new way today. We had already learned beats, but we had no way to explain it. After a bit on the Doppler Effect, we went into the hallway and...
lerner180.posthaven.com
September 12, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Day 18 of #teach180 #iteachphysics: Getting the students to explain beats on their own. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-18-teach...
Day 17 of #teach180: We played with tuning forks! I used Desmos to show the Doppler Effect! I had fun with students! lerner180.posthaven.com/day-17-playi...
Day 17: Playing with Tuning Forks
I am forgetting to take pictures! Aargh! We started by playing with tuning forks, seeing them splash in the water, and how the tines feel very weird when you touch it to your nose. I showed them...
lerner180.posthaven.com
September 11, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Day 17 of #teach180: We played with tuning forks! I used Desmos to show the Doppler Effect! I had fun with students! lerner180.posthaven.com/day-17-playi...
Days 15 and 16 of #teach180: It's OK to have boring days, and we can learn a lot on those days. lerner180.posthaven.com/days-15-and-... #iteachphysics
Days 15 and 16: Getting Back the Test and Whiteboarding the Mechanical Wave Model
Yesterday was the test, and today, I passed back the test. I didn't write a blog yesterday, because I sat there writing an answer key for the test, organizing my desk, working on orders for the...
lerner180.posthaven.com
September 10, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Days 15 and 16 of #teach180: It's OK to have boring days, and we can learn a lot on those days. lerner180.posthaven.com/days-15-and-... #iteachphysics
Day 14 of #teach180: Reviewing for the ray model of light, and two things about reviewing that I do that their other teachers might not do. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-14-revie...
Day 14: Reviewing for Our Test on the Ray Model of Light
Today we spent the day reviewing for tests, and I realized that my advice for studying is probably different than that of their other teachers.
One, I realize I do not like...
lerner180.posthaven.com
September 8, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Day 14 of #teach180: Reviewing for the ray model of light, and two things about reviewing that I do that their other teachers might not do. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-14-revie...
If you want to see my standards, and my (not perfect) cut-and-paste of the CED to match each standard, look here: www.notion.so/lernerphysic... You may have to change the filter to see AP2, APC Mech, and APC E&M.
All Standards | Notion
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www.notion.so
September 7, 2025 at 3:48 PM
If you want to see my standards, and my (not perfect) cut-and-paste of the CED to match each standard, look here: www.notion.so/lernerphysic... You may have to change the filter to see AP2, APC Mech, and APC E&M.
Bree, I've been doing SBG for APC for the past 10 years, I think? I took the last CEDs for AP2 and both APCs and broke them down into standards that work for me. (My APC students have taken AP1 and AP2, so those standards might be too big for other teachers).
September 7, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Bree, I've been doing SBG for APC for the past 10 years, I think? I took the last CEDs for AP2 and both APCs and broke them down into standards that work for me. (My APC students have taken AP1 and AP2, so those standards might be too big for other teachers).
Thanks for the catch! It works now for me. I hope it works for you.
September 6, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Thanks for the catch! It works now for me. I hope it works for you.
Day 12: I'm a little grumpy. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-12-white...
Day 12: Whiteboarding Some Problems and Too Many Obstacles
We whiteboarded some problems on lenses today. Students asked good questions, and they seem to be in a good place with the ray model of light.
And my students wanted to...
lerner180.posthaven.com
September 4, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Day 12: I'm a little grumpy. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-12-white...
Day 11 of #teach180 #iteachphysics: We do ray diagrams for convex lenses, which bored me, but the kids loved. Plus we burned paper. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-11-drawi...
Day 11: Drawing Even More Ray Diagrams
I walked through the ways to draw ray diagrams with lenses with my classes. The last few years, I just told my student, "eh, it's basically the same thing. Let me show you how to draw the three...
lerner180.posthaven.com
September 4, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Day 11 of #teach180 #iteachphysics: We do ray diagrams for convex lenses, which bored me, but the kids loved. Plus we burned paper. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-11-drawi...
Day 10 of #teach180: The wonder my students have for something I find commonplace, and how they are willing to see the same pattern again and understand that it has some, but not a lot, of differences. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-10-conve...
Day 10: Convex Lenses Lab
I just threw the students into the lenses lab. I didn't tell them where the screen should go, so it was great to watch students try to figure that out. They were sure it would act like a mirror,...
lerner180.posthaven.com
September 2, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Day 10 of #teach180: The wonder my students have for something I find commonplace, and how they are willing to see the same pattern again and understand that it has some, but not a lot, of differences. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-10-conve...
Day 9 of #teach180: Whiteboarding. When is it no longer worth it? lerner180.posthaven.com/day-9-whiteb...
Day 9: Whiteboarding & Total Internal Reflection
Today, we whiteboarded problems on curved mirror and refraction. And, in both classes, the whiteboarding went quick. And, in both classes, the sticky points were the same—what if we cover half the...
lerner180.posthaven.com
August 29, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Day 9 of #teach180: Whiteboarding. When is it no longer worth it? lerner180.posthaven.com/day-9-whiteb...
Day 8 of #teach180: I am tired. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-8-law-of...
Day 8: Law of Refraction and Practice Time
We're applying the finishing touches to this post before it is fully published. It should be ready soon.
I told them how to go from the interesting straight line we got when graphing sine of one...
lerner180.posthaven.com
August 28, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Day 8 of #teach180: I am tired. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-8-law-of...
Day 7 of #teach180: Getting to Refraction. I muse on how I save time by telling and how drawing one line changes the conversations that happen in class. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-7-finish...
Day 7: Finishing Mirrors and The Three Things Light Does at a Boundary
We took a few notes today. I just told them about the difference between concave and convex mirrors and what that means about the sign convention we use in the lens equation. It's kinda boring, and...
lerner180.posthaven.com
August 27, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Day 7 of #teach180: Getting to Refraction. I muse on how I save time by telling and how drawing one line changes the conversations that happen in class. lerner180.posthaven.com/day-7-finish...