Accelerated Physics

Sean Downes
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  • EDUCATION

This is a podcast about learning and teaching physics, from someone who's been in the trenches for almost two decades. We'll also discuss how to relate the classroom to big ideas in contemporary research: like what circuits have to do with quantum mechanics, how special relativity impacts us - literally every day - and how the Doppler effect can teach us about the earliest moments - and the farthest reaches - of our universe. Whether you’re a student or an instructor, you’ll find a wealth of ideas both practical and inspirational. Here at the Pasayten Institute, we’re convinced that like photons, perspectives should be exchanged, and often! Join the discussion! Drop us a line: team@pasayten.org. We can't wait to talk shop with you.

Episodes

  1. 04/16/2021

    Physics Friday: g-2, STEAM and Ingenuity on Mars

    Physics Friday Muon g-2The experiment webpage, and some extra videos and links to the Seminar can be found here. STEAM > STEM Brandi's @sciartbro instagram accountArts at Cern, and their instagram account.The College of William and Mary's Virtual Mural Conservation Challenge.Toni Feder's piece in Physics Today The Martian HelicopterCheck out Nasa's website for All things Ingenuity. Thanks for checking us out!The Accelerated Physics Podcast is a production of the Pasayten Institute, whose mission is to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers. This podcast aims to serve both students and teachers of physics by injecting ideas, starting conversations. Have any ideas or feedback? Drop us a line: https://www.pasayten.org/heysean This show is made possible in part by the Physics Accelerator, whose mission is to support people in the quest to learn mathematics and physics. The Physics Accelerator is a program of the Pasayten Institute. Music today by Particle House. The show is written, editing and produced by me, Sean Downes. Thank you so much for listening. You can always find us online at: https://physicsaccelerator.com

    8 min

  2. 04/13/2021

    Teaching Strategies : Good and Bad ways to Grade Exams

    Lessons Learned in Grading1. Grading in groups builds community.2. Get it done. ASAP. For your own sanity and for closing the feedback loop faster.3. Go birds eye first: student errors typically fall into equivalence classes. Thanks for checking us out!The Accelerated Physics Podcast is a production of the Pasayten Institute, whose mission is to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers. This podcast aims to serve both students and teachers of physics by injecting ideas, starting conversations. Have any ideas or feedback? Drop us a line: https://www.pasayten.org/heysean This show is made possible in part by the Physics Accelerator, whose mission is to support people in the quest to learn mathematics and physics. The Physics Accelerator is a program of the Pasayten Institute. Music today by Particle House. The show is written, editing and produced by me, Sean Downes. Thank you so much for listening. You can always find us online at: https://physicsaccelerator.com

    12 min

  3. 04/12/2021

    Learning Strategies : Think like a Physicist with... Benzene?

    Think like a Physicist?Physicists have their own culture, and part of that culture is a kind of collective, self reflection. One of the most common targets? Creative problem solving. If you want to see a physicist student panic, as them to model the electron configuration of a benzene ring. As undergraduates spend weeks studying the electron configuration of the hydrogen atom in a quantum mechanics course. Weeks. And that’s just ONE atom. How are you going to model an entire, super complicated organic chemical like Bezene?! Why. With Symmetry, of course. Thanks for checking us out!The Accelerated Physics Podcast is a production of the Pasayten Institute, whose mission is to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers. This podcast aims to serve both students and teachers of physics by injecting ideas, starting conversations. Have any ideas or feedback? Drop us a line: https://www.pasayten.org/heysean This show is made possible in part by the Physics Accelerator, whose mission is to support people in the quest to learn mathematics and physics. The Physics Accelerator is a program of the Pasayten Institute. Music today by Gloria Tells. The show is written, editing and produced by me, Sean Downes. Thank you so much for listening. You can always find us online at: https://physicsaccelerator.com

    9 min

  4. 04/09/2021

    Physics Friday 2: Some physics new from the week that was!

    Physics Friday Majorana Particles : The neutrino may well be a Majorana fermion, experiments are currently underway. In condensed matter, many folks are hot on the trail of a quasi Majorana fermion. A recent claimed observation has been retracted. Science is messy. Check out Thomas Lewton's article on the subject. Xenobots : Check out Doug Blackiston’s research website on xenobots, and Philip Ball’s recent piece in Quanta. The Coma Cluster : Bruce McClure has a write up in EarthSky this week about hunting the Coma Cluster. The cluster has a rich history in modern astrophysics; it was one of the first case studies in Dark Matter. As Fritz Zwicky pointed out way back in 1933, the motion of the galaxies in the coma cluster are totally inconsistent with their expected mass. Thanks for checking us out!The Accelerated Physics Podcast is a production of the Pasayten Institute, whose mission is to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers. This podcast aims to serve both students and teachers of physics by injecting ideas, starting conversations. Have any ideas or feedback? Drop us a line: https://www.pasayten.org/heysean This show is made possible in part by the Physics Accelerator, whose mission is to support people in the quest to learn mathematics and physics. The Physics Accelerator is a program of the Pasayten Institute. Music today by Particle House. The show is written, editing and produced by me, Sean Downes. Thank you so much for listening. You can always find us online at: https://physicsaccelerator.com

    11 min

  5. 04/07/2021

    Big Ideas : Spin in Classical and Quantum Mechanics

    Angular Momentum, Magnetic Dipoles and Quantized Spin We take ideas in first year physics: angular momentum and current loops, and describe to what extent they can model the magnetic dipole moment of elementary particles, and more generally, the idea of quantized spin. Also. Read Nobel laureate Dudley Hershbach's fun account of replicating the Stern-Gerlach experiment. Thanks for checking us out!The Accelerated Physics Podcast is a production of the Pasayten Institute, whose mission is to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers. This podcast aims to serve both students and teachers of physics by injecting ideas, starting conversations. Have any ideas or feedback? Drop us a line: https://www.pasayten.org/heysean This show is made possible in part by the Physics Accelerator, whose mission is to support people in the quest to learn mathematics and physics. The Physics Accelerator is a program of the Pasayten Institute. Music today by Gloria Tells. The show is written, editing and produced by me, Sean Downes. Thank you so much for listening. You can always find us online at: https://physicsaccelerator.com

    14 min

  6. 04/06/2021

    Teaching Strategies : The open-homework quiz

    Incentive homework without having to grade itLast week we discussed using quizzes as a poll for student’s comprehension of the material. This week, we’re turning that idea on its head. Let’s discuss the use of quizzes to motivate students to LEARN the material. Compulsory homework motivates students to only do problems once. And some problems are probably worth doing multiple times.It’s self-defeating all around. So how do you get the notoriously short-time-horizon motivated high school and college students to do their homework? The open-homework quiz. Thanks for checking us out!The Accelerated Physics Podcast is a production of the Pasayten Institute, whose mission is to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers. This podcast aims to serve both students and teachers of physics by injecting ideas, starting conversations. Have any ideas or feedback? Drop us a line: https://www.pasayten.org/heysean This show is made possible in part by the Physics Accelerator, whose mission is to support people in the quest to learn mathematics and physics. The Physics Accelerator is a program of the Pasayten Institute. Music today by Particle House. The show is written, editing and produced by me, Sean Downes. Thank you so much for listening. You can always find us online at: https://physicsaccelerator.com

    6 min

  7. 04/05/2021

    Learning Strategies : Samir's rule of three : 3 times without looking

    Testing your Deliberate PracticeThe most impactful advice for learning math and science I ever receive came - unsurprisingly - in a physics class. It was an electrodynamics class. It’s heavy subject full of complicated equations, solutions and derivations. Even for an advanced class, the material was so thick and so dense that even the professor felt it necessary to share some studying tips."Do the derivation three times without looking at your notes. When you can accomplish that, you're ready for the exam." This approach is about gauging your own understanding of the material. Thanks for checking us out!The Accelerated Physics Podcast is a production of the Pasayten Institute, whose mission is to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers. This podcast aims to serve both students and teachers of physics by injecting ideas, starting conversations. Have any ideas or feedback? Drop us a line: https://www.pasayten.org/heysean This show is made possible in part by the Physics Accelerator, whose mission is to support people in the quest to learn mathematics and physics. The Physics Accelerator is a program of the Pasayten Institute. Music today by Gloria Tells. The show is written, editing and produced by me, Sean Downes. Thank you so much for listening. You can always find us online at: https://physicsaccelerator.com

    8 min

  8. 04/02/2021

    Physics Friday : Some physics new from the week that was!

    Physics FridayThe LHCb experiment reports on new tension with the Standard Model of Particle Physics. Check out our write up on this issue. Also check out our rant about why this absolutely is NOT a discovery or sighting of any new particle. The Glashow Resonance is observed by the IceCube Neutrino experiment. We wrote about this last week on our blog, check the links to the relevant info there. Superconducting skyrmions are observed in two-layers of graphene. We also wrote a summary of these skyrmions and the room temperature superconductor information on our blog. Here's Charlie's article at Quanta. Thanks for checking us out!The Accelerated Physics Podcast is a production of the Pasayten Institute, whose mission is to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers. This podcast aims to serve both students and teachers of physics by injecting ideas, starting conversations. Have any ideas or feedback? Drop us a line: https://www.pasayten.org/heysean This show is made possible in part by the Physics Accelerator, whose mission is to support people in the quest to learn mathematics and physics. The Physics Accelerator is a program of the Pasayten Institute. Music today by Particle House. The show is written, editing and produced by me, Sean Downes. Thank you so much for listening. You can always find us online at: https://physicsaccelerator.com

    12 min

  9. 03/31/2021

    Big Ideas : Special Relativity and Proxima Centauri C

    Applied Special Relativity Today we explore the classic "Astronaut's Twin" paradox from the time dilation effects of Special Relativity, and comment on how it really makes the prospect of an interstellar civilization impractical. In more practical terms, we apply the same ideas to the effects of cosmogenic muons - those particles raining down upon us from the upper atmosphere. For more on Proxima Centauri C,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Centauri_c Check out our video on Cosmogenic Muons:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERS2hzTjsQY Thanks for checking us out!The Accelerated Physics Podcast is a production of the Pasayten Institute, whose mission is to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers. This podcast aims to serve both students and teachers of physics by injecting ideas, starting conversations. Have any ideas or feedback? Drop us a line: https://www.pasayten.org/heysean This show is made possible in part by the Physics Accelerator, whose mission is to support people in the quest to learn mathematics and physics. The Physics Accelerator is a program of the Pasayten Institute. Music today by Gloria Tells. The show is written, editing and produced by me, Sean Downes. Thank you so much for listening. You can always find us online at: https://physicsaccelerator.com

    8 min

  10. 03/30/2021

    Teaching Strategies : Polling with Quizzes

    Polling with Quizzes The usual grading cycle of weekly homework and exams can delay feedback to the instructor by well over two weeks. Assessing student understanding with low stakes quizzes can both catalyze learning and serve as a classroom poll of understanding. When work is to be shown, usually student mistakes fall into definite patterns. You can quickly sort the quizzes and grade on those equivalence classes. Since they're low stakes anyway, detailed grading rubrics like you'd impose on a exam aren't relevant here. Pass / Fail or 10/5/2 work just fine. Thanks for checking us out!The Accelerated Physics Podcast is a production of the Pasayten Institute, whose mission is to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers. This podcast aims to serve both students and teachers of physics by injecting ideas, starting conversations. Have any ideas or feedback? Drop us a line: https://www.pasayten.org/heysean This show is made possible in part by the Physics Accelerator, whose mission is to support people in the quest to learn mathematics and physics. The Physics Accelerator is a program of the Pasayten Institute. Music today by Particle House. The show is written, editing and produced by me, Sean Downes. Thank you so much for listening. You can always find us online at: https://physicsaccelerator.com

    9 min

  11. 03/29/2021

    Learning Strategies: Training the Square Root of 25

    Learning as Training Today I'll relate one of my first "ah ha!" moments of teaching mathematics, where the prescriptive instincts of a traditional education in math fails students. There’s a strong parallel between athletic training and studying mathematics- or really any kind of technical skill:  be it professional cooking or coding. Grinding repetition. Constant drilling. You have to be able to perform the same action, with precision, at a moments notice, which means doing it over and over and over again. There’s no shortcut to getting fit, and there’s no shortcut for building your own capacity. The boring work matters. A lot. But here’s the thing. All that training is what helps you through panic and confusion. Be it during a test or a conversation - or even while trying to teach! And that panic ACCELERATES the learning.  It’s that frantic grasping around for ideas, feeling like a fool. These are the moments we want to encourage and cultivate. These are the moments were we grow. This is that grinding repetition converts into knowledge. Confronting your confusion is going to be a theme on this show. Thanks for checking us out!The Accelerated Physics Podcast is a production of the Pasayten Institute, whose mission is to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers. This podcast aims to serve both students and teachers of physics by injecting ideas, starting conversations. Have any ideas or feedback? Drop us a line: https://www.pasayten.org/heysean This show is made possible in part by the Physics Accelerator, whose mission is to support people in the quest to learn mathematics and physics. The Physics Accelerator is a program of the Pasayten Institute. Music today by Gloria Tells. The show is written, editing and produced by me, Sean Downes. Thank you so much for listening. You can always find us online at: https://physicsaccelerator.com

    9 min

  12. 03/19/2021

    Trailer : Introducing Accelerated Physics

    Sean here from the Pasayten Institute. If you haven’t heard us, we’re an organization devoted to development of physics knowledge, for everyone, without barriers. In our new Accelerated Physics podcast, we are aiming specifically to discuss matters of learning and teaching physics. I’ve taught math and physics and facilitated that learning professionally at almost every level: from third grade arithmetic to graduate mathematical methods. The bulk of it, though, has been directed at first year college students: mechanics, electromagnetism, calculus, that sort of thing. These experiences have shaped the way I understand Physics - and how I learn new things myself, and so I wanted to share them with you.  This podcast will have something for everyone: we’ll share practical stories in learning math and physics, like how to pick up new ideas faster through repetition, and how to know when you’re ready for a test or a quiz or even a presentation. We’ll also share some hard earned lessons in teaching: Like how to support a mindful approach to instruction and assessment. How to incentivize students to do their homework without simply awarding or subtracting points.  And what the role of quizzes might be in teaching, and how it can be improved.  Besides tips and tricks, we’ll share basic concepts to big ideas: like what circuits have to do with quantum mechanics, how special relativity impacts us - literally every day - and how the Doppler effect can teach us about the earliest moments - and the farthest reaches -  of our universe. Whether you’re a student or an instructor, you’ll find a wealth of ideas both practical and inspirational. Here at the Pasayten Institute, we’re convinced that like photons, perspectives should be exchanged, and often!  Now. Full disclosure. We’re putting this show together to announce our new service: the physics accelerator. The physics accelerator is not about learning physics persay - it’s about accelerating that learning. We’ll even have a product for instructors too! Our aim to to get you up to speed, faster. Like anything, it’s hard work, but we’ll be there to help you through it. If this is at all interesting to you - or you’re just interested in supporting our work generally - subscribe to this show and keep an ear out for it. As always. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of our community.

    3 min

Trailer

About

This is a podcast about learning and teaching physics, from someone who's been in the trenches for almost two decades. We'll also discuss how to relate the classroom to big ideas in contemporary research: like what circuits have to do with quantum mechanics, how special relativity impacts us - literally every day - and how the Doppler effect can teach us about the earliest moments - and the farthest reaches - of our universe. Whether you’re a student or an instructor, you’ll find a wealth of ideas both practical and inspirational. Here at the Pasayten Institute, we’re convinced that like photons, perspectives should be exchanged, and often! Join the discussion! Drop us a line: team@pasayten.org. We can't wait to talk shop with you.

Information

  • Creator
    Sean Downes
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    12
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Sean Downes
  • Show Website
    Accelerated Physics