February 2015 – Mechanical Sympathy

Arduinos, Galileos & Edisons

February 28, 2015January 13, 2017 By Timothy King

Students create astonishing work with Arduino.Instead of electronics being something that isdone to them, Arduino lets them author theirrelationship with electronics.I'm a big fan of the Arduino microcontroller. This tiny, inexpensive board plugs into your computer via a usb cable and lets you create circuits for lights, sounds, sensors or…

The Desperate American Cruiser

February 27, 2015January 17, 2017 By Timothy King

I've been reading Inside Motorcycles, Canada's Source for Motorcycle News. Their February/March 2015 issue has an article that underlines the desperation of the American cruiser.In it they describe the Victory Gunner as over-priced, unable to corner and smooth. They then go on to say, "...the Gunner is a bruiser, built to…

Toronto Bike Show 2015

February 23, 2015January 17, 2017 By Timothy King

The Toronto Bike Show at the Direct Energy Centre at the CNE was once again a nice day out. What made it even better was that somehow managed to convince my highly educated, non-biking wife to join us, and she too had a great time. I'm glad she picked this show as her first.…

Fat Guys On Bikes

February 21, 2015February 6, 2017 By Timothy King

Even my leaner summer weight is still overweight / borderline obese. I got called in for a checkup at my local MDs last week. I'm not a little fellow, at 6'3" I usually tip the scales at about 110 kilos (~240lbs). At that weight I don't carry much extra weight anywhere,…

Assessment NOT for learning

February 14, 2015May 5, 2017 By Timothy King

Exams are in the bag and I'm wondering what the point was. Knowledgeable, capable students did well, incompetent students didn't, but neither have the opportunity to learn from their exams. It begs the question: what is the point of an exam? By high school most students think that education is…

Bike Delivery System: escaping frozemagheddon!

February 11, 2015January 17, 2017 By Timothy King

It's supposed to drop into the -40°Cs in the next couple of days. We're in the bowels of winter here and I'm getting cabin fever. I've already day dreamed of the kit I'd need to go to track days, but that kit would serve another purpose, to get me clear…

Cookie Cutter ‘Formal’ Exams

February 10, 2015January 25, 2017 By Timothy King

We were recently told that our board is moving to a formal exam for every course model. We're told that this needs to happen because if we don't use formal exam days for formal exams, we'll lose the days. Perhaps we should lose the days. Formal exams are an echo…

The End of Knowledge

February 4, 2015February 9, 2017 By Timothy King

I've just wrapped up a grade 11 university level English class. I only tend to teach these classes once every couple of years now, so I see real differences in how academic students are evolving with technology use. This time around we have a Google Apps for Educators system well established…