During the sophomore year of my Longwood career, I took this class to satisfy my “Scientific Reasoning” pillar for my honors enrollment. A few other of my honors friends took this class with me, but we all have different opinions of the class to say the least. This is my take of the class.
Surprisingly enough, this was not an English or Philosophy class. This was a physics class. I know what you’re thinking…..”Oh my goodness he took physics?? I hear that is very challenging and rigorous!” Well yes and no. Physics is VERY challenging to some people and to others it comes more naturally. Luckily for me, this wasn’t the average physics class. In this class, we mainly studied the history of physics and how different societies throughout human history have used physics to overcome great challenges. Thankfully, there was hardly any math involved at all in my course.
This physics class was called “One Giant Leap” and it was here where we studied how to create arches and their benefits to society, the architecture of the “Seven Wonders of the World”, the physics behind creating an atomic bomb, and even how physics can be used to tackle difficult problems like climate change!
At the beginning of the semester, we began the course by discussing the “Seven Wonders of the World” and why they are what they are. What makes them great is that they were all built without much technology and these architectural masterpieces turned out to be extraordinary! Next we looked at how arches are made, the physics of what makes them so strong and durable, and how they have benefitted humanity over the years. We then started diving into the different modern wars throughout history and what technological advancements helped each party win/fight in the war with. We conducted research on the atomic bomb, tear gas, tanks, motor vehicles, guns, airplanes, and so many more. Finally, we discussed how the entire world has been contributing to climate change, how certain countries have made advancements in reducing their carbon footprint, and how the world can collectively come together to address this issue.
I have very mixed feelings about this class. Do you want to hear about the good news or the bad news first? Let’s first talk about the bad news.
This was a very easy class. Normally that would fall into the “good news” category, but to me this class felt too easy. When I first signed up for this class in the spring of 2019, my first thoughts were “Oh my gosh I will be taking physics next semester. I need to bring my A game for this class.” My initial sense of urgency and seriousness was at an all time high when I first began this class, but as the class continued the sense of urgency drastically declined. All of the assignments were incredibly easy, there were little quizzes and tests, and we hardly ever completed a group assignment in the class. Literally, I would show up to the class, listen to the lecture, and leave. Day in and day out. This class was so easy that I had no motivation to sit down with the material outside of class and actually study.
The good news with this class is that IT WAS SUPER EASY! All I needed to do for this class was sit down, take notes, and leave! This was, by far, the EASIEST class I have ever taken so far (I am writing this at the end of my first semester of sophomore year). The quizzes that we did complete were very short, the questions were very easy to understand with a few questions having “dummy answers”, and the only big projects we needed to complete were three writing projects. The first project was a 250 word essay, the second was 750 words, and the last paper was 1,250 words. These projects were about climate change and how the world can reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. I am a science buff, so I actually enjoyed conducting research about how the world has tried to address this very pressing issue, that no one seems to address.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y1RlJFkmljCUa4RJc-YeFgCj6yFOFJFN7G6MsRNW1kA/edit?usp=sharing
Above is a link to a simply google doc describing the different between solar energy and carbon sequestration. This is my artifact for this class because the focus of the class was forcing students to learn material they were not traditionally going to learn and somehow apply that knowledge into their lives. One of the biggest takeaways I have from this class is to never stop learning. Always strive to learn something new, every single day.
This easy of a class was honestly a breath of fresh air for me because at this point, I had just begun my nursing intensive course load and I was in for a rude awakening. I would stay up for HOURS studying for nursing. To the point where I would have to either wake up at ungodly hours to complete some assignments, or maybe pull and “all nighter” to get everything done. It was so nice to have this class in the midst of my course load as I just needed a second to catch my breath and complete some assignments that were simple and easy.