Student Evaluations Schwartz 2016 Intro Mechanics

Spring 2016 – the one with overall rating of 2.5:

A professor who is very good at communicating physics to his students.

I personally loved Pete’s flipped style of teaching. I think that a C or D in his class would definitely amount to a B in another class. He really expected us to ask for for help from other students before asking him, which turned out to be beneficial. However, I had a little problem with the problem sets. I would try to work on them during his office hours, but the students there would be much more ahead of me, and I didnt want to interrupt their flow. I hope that Pete learns to be more understanding and help us during office hours, instead of having everyone thats in office hours regroup because I could be annoying to the others there.

Professor Schwartz takes a very interesting and unique approach towards physics that both enhances understanding and also contributes to a sense of being overwhelmed while in the class. Since all topics are introduced day 1, it’s difficult to keep everything straight and make connections, but once you start “getting it”, you really feel as though you understand what is going on. As far as the “flipped” style, I’m not convinced I would learn better with this model than a traditional one. Working in groups is helpful, but I think in class time could be better used for working through problems as a class instead of working in a group and doing a problem entirely incorrectly. Additionally, it seems as though Professor Schwartz has a rather subjective form of grading that can be consistent, but seems to not be often.

I thought the group work was unnecessary. I got stuck in a group that didn’t do much, and I think I could have handled most of those projects on my own. Furthermore, I did not feel that the group projects contributed enough to the overall content of the course for the amount of effort they required as they really only consisted of our groups explaining a couple concepts. I think the time could have been better spent with some sort of individual project or added problem sets. The topics of the video project was just too specific to actually be useful for my overall understanding of the class.

Pete is very passionate about physics and is very set in his ways. He encourages students to be honest about their opinions on the class style, but never really understands what they are saying or just thinks we are all wrong. The flipped classroom is definitely something to get used to, and once you do it is possible to do well. It is just not my preferred way of learning. Throughout the entire quarter you don’t really feel confident about any concepts because Pete does not lecture in class. He talks for 3 minutes and calls it a lecture. I understand he prefers teaching in this style, I just don’t prefer learning this way. Otherwise, I did improve over the quarter and hope to do well in the end. Definitely an interesting experience.

Pete is a nice guy but his teaching style is not good for physics. Many times i left the room feeling confused and his scoring on test is 100% based on if you can follow his methods and not if you can solve the problem. Overall this class was way harder than it needed to be and I dont suggest taking this teacher.

Although I didn’t mind the flipped classroom style I didn’t feel like the instructor was prepared for it. He was not interested in answering questions and i often left class more confused than when I entered it. I understand the want for students to struggle until they understand but when learning difficult physics concepts maybe explaining an example first rather than letting us fail again and again without any aid from the instructor. I think the workshop leader that was in class taught me more than the instructor.

Dr. Schwartz, or Pete as he insists we call him, has gone through a lot of different turns in my mind through the quarter. I was ambivalent at best after the first class meeting. It took me personally a long time to warm up to the way he wants to teach the class and the material, and while I enjoy it for the most part now I can’t ignore those first few weeks. The sheer avalanche of stuff at the beginning is extremely daunting at first, and Pete’s classroom is very atypical. So while adjusting to a new method of learning, you’re expected to deal with a very large amount of material. I understand why he does it this way, since there’s a real benefit to doing so. Since nearly everything is introduced in the beginning, the entire quarter is spent learning it all in more depth and at the same time. This was a huge benefit later on, since it made it far easier to understand how everything is interconnected in physics. So for that I thank Pete a lot, for changing the way I think about physics and making me really see the subject in a new perspective. If I count those first two or three weeks as a “grace period” of sorts, I would have given this course an A. Out of all the classes I’ve taken, this one most obviously impacted my thought process and learning in a subject, and I’m leaving the class with the impression that I have learned and understand a large amount of material. But despite that, the class was very confusing and difficult to manage in the beginning. If there was some way to ease new students into this style of teaching better it would make the class superior. I’m not sure that such a bridge exists, since it’s a relatively radical change in thought process, but if possible creating a more fluid one would help a lot.

Overall good class. Teaching methods are unorthodox however works well.

Loved this class. Would recommend to anyone and everyone

The way Pete Schwartz taught his class was different. There was a big emphasis on group work which I personally really liked. Pete Schwartz expects a lot from his students, but thats only because he knows how much they’ll benefit from it. At first I found the class a bit overwhelming as all the physics concepts are thrown at you all at once. There was a big focus on lenses and concepts rather than just plugging in numbers into equations.

the dynamic was interesting and exciting. I’ve never been this excited to be around a teacher. I feel like Pete is the most willing teacher to work with students and understand their struggles that I’ve ever had. I can tell he cares about his students tremendously and it is an honor having him in my life

I thought Pete was a great, passionate, and thoughtful instructor. His knowledge of the subject was matched only by his ability to clearly communicate it to his students.

Spring 2016 – the one with overall rating of 3.1:

He didn’t answer questions at all. I learned a lot, however, the way the class was taught did not agree with my learning styles.

I truly felt that this class taught me very few things. I came into this class with a strong physics background and ended up basically teaching those around me, based off my prior knowledge… not what was shown to us in the videos. Also, I really believed that the projects only added stress to our lives and didn’t help us learn material. However, I thought the midterms and big exams were INCREDIBLY fair, and actually much easier than the in-class work. I’d prefer if some lectures were more structured about working through examples at the beginning, and then using that information in independent examples. Overall, I felt the class had excellent demonstrations and ways of thinking about physics differently, but many people struggled if this was their first physics class ever.

Being able to discuss concepts with students was helpful, yet it was vital to have the correct answer revealed afterwards, and that rarely happened.

This course is good for a certain type of person. Due to the switched classroom style, it requires a lot more time outside of class to learn the material. This is fine if you have a lot of time, but much more difficult if you don’t. There’s a lot of potential in this learning style, but it’s not quite there yet in its current format.

Pete is absolutely incredible, and I am so glad I took his class. His style of teaching is perfect for me, and I wish more classes were taught like this.

The instructor is a nice guy and I think he means well. But his ways of teaching are not easy to follow. He doesn’t encourage students to ask questions because he only answers students’ questions with more questions, leading to more confusion. He thinks that after we see one of his videos that poorly explains a given topic, that we should be experts on the given topic. He does not encourage students to find the answer to a problem in their own way. He only cares if you find the answer the way he would find it and only that way. I went to office hours multiple times and he was not helpful. Overall, this class was a quarter long of frustration and attempting to teach myself the class.

I really liked the flipped classroom and i wish more professors taught like pete

His style of videos and group work/talk in class is very useful and effective however his exams exceptions and class expectations were hard to understand.

Pete was great! I enjoyed learning from him, and I definitely learned a LOT. Especially about working in a group and critical thinking. However, I can see why some people had troubles with him. His class objectives could be confusing, and his reversed classroom was not always all that helpful. But, great course overall.

This class was very different from most and it took about a week to get used to. The way it was taught made physics fun. I feel like a I made friends in this class.

Did not help his students

It took me a while to get used to the structure of this class, but once I did, I was looking forward to class each day

Lazy teachers never respond well with students.. The classroom is for learning. Not being forced to talk to those around you.. TEACH PLEASE TEACHER

I was skeptical of schwartz’s “flipped” classroom idea, but he ended up being an awesome physics professor who took a plethora of time to explain material to students.

Winter 2016 – the one with overall rating of 3.3:

The flipped classroom took a bit to get used to, but going to office hours and working problems through with other students proved extremely beneficial.

Class was not structured very well. Good for some students learning and not helpful for others. Did not give good answers or explanations for questions

Good professor, willing to help

I thoroughly disliked flipped calssrooms and would not recommend to anyone

Pete’s class provides an interesting way of learning that makes one apply him/herself more than other classes, and it may not fit everyone’s preferences. I did think the class was fun and unique though.

I have found the reverse classroom setting to be very beneficial. Pete is extremely helpful and enthusiastic about the subject. My one critique is that I wish the points/percentage breakdowns for the overall class grade were a bit more exact.

Reminds me of my classes in elementary/middle school. The “big exams” that weren’t actually for grade were particularly helpful; these would immediately let me know if I needed to work further on a concept that I thought I knew just fine.

I failed physics twice and never understood what I was doing but Pete helped me not HATE IT

Pete is a baller. Only good things to say about him. He challenged the way I thought about physics and I feel like a have learned a bunch in his class and am fully prepared to take the next physics course.

Pete’s teaching style is different but very effective if you accept it and try to make it work.

I know a lot of people didn’t agree with his teaching style but I found that if I invested myself in the class and trusted the method, the way it was taught worked better for me than a traditional physics class.

very engaging instructor. i enjoyed the class very much.

this did not help me prepare for physics 2 at all

Pete is GREAT! No complaints. His grading is fair. His tests are reasonable considering what he has introduced you to in class. His style of teaching certainly doesn’t work for everyone, but it works extremely well for me and I think I gained a real understanding of physics.

Pete was very clear on what he expects of students (watching the videos everynight, LON CAPA problems, group project), and his schedule was very organized, you could look up what we were doing for the entire 10 weeks. The only thing unclear was that he would often answer student’s questions with questions, making me more confused, or listen to multiple student theories on how to answer a question but would not say which one was correct or incorrect. I wish he would just tell us straight up if we were right or wrong and how to do it so that we know. Our grades are also very unclear. His syllabus says the 2 midterms are worth about 25% and the finals about 50% but how can they be “about”? I understand the lowering the grades for not watching the videos, but I have absolutely no idea how our participation and mandatory group project grades are being incorporated, because I know they are being incorporated but I just have no idea how so I don’t know my standing. He is a very nice, intelligent guy, but his class confuses me a lot at times. I feel like some topics I understand on a much deeper level than high school physics and some concepts I used to understand and I have never been so confused by.

the instructor used a flipped classroom hearing the lectures online was very helpful; I could learn at my own pace and use the class time to clarify

Different teaching style but it was eventually understandable.

Pete’s teaching method is a little hard to get used to, but once you do, it really encourages you to think around problems, and how they work instead of straight plugging in numbers. This really helped my understanding of Physics.

Pete has a different teaching style isn’t structured in the way that a lot of students are used too, which might make t hard for some students, but to me this added much more too the class and helped students understand the subject better.

I didn’t like how the professor would rarely teach in class. Classwork did not improve our grade, it could only lower it. This doesn’t seem fair.

Pete was a very passionate instructor and cared about how his students learned. I also enjoyed the active learning environment he provided. But, in the end, everyone has to sit down and take a test or written exam. And even if Pete did a good job teaching us how to explain our thought processes and how to go about a problem, we eventually need to come up with the correct numerical answer. He did not stress this in his class. In the real world, companies don’t care how you get to your answer. As long as you get the correct answer and can prove why your correct, you will succeed for that company. Again, Pete’s class didn’t stress that and it was hard to be certain with an answer in his class.

Please go over (at least briefly because I know you don’t like to lecture) what was discussed in the videos posted. It helps me double check if I really know the material or not

I think that overall Pete is a good teacher, sometimes though his class can be somewhat confusing.

His reverse learning style just did not work for me.

This class was very difficult for me because this teacher uses an unorthodox teaching method that frustrated me and hindered my learning. This teacher does not use class-time to lecture; instead, he posts videos of himself lecturing on a class website which we are expected to watch before class. During class he would give us example problems based on our knowledge of the videos. These example problems were usually rather difficult, and they often caused me to fear exams and homework problems. This teacher does not follow the regular physics textbook that most other physics professors use at Cal Poly. Instead, he bases his lectures off an Open-Stax online text. He does not follow the book’s chronology. In fact he tackles multiple chapters at once throughout the entire course, and therefore does not go into much depth in any specific chapter. For me, this made following the textbook rather useless. In my opinion, his weird teaching style made learning the material much more stressful and confusing for me. His odd teaching style added a level of complexity that could have been completely eliminated if he held lectures during class and taught the class chronologically. Throughout this quarter, this class has caused me an unnecessary amount of anxiety. While this teacher has an undeniable mastery of the subject of physics, in my opinion, he was not very successful with teaching this introductory physics course because he is out of touch with the needs of his students.

Pete chose to teach with a flipped class room. We watched lecture videos online and worked problems with him and our groups in class. It’s different than a lot of students are used to but can be really effective when done well. I think Pete, for the most part, did a great job with the flipped class room and felt like he taught the subject well.

Fall 2015 – the one with overall rating of 3.1:

Reverse classroom worked for me. Loved Pete’s style but recognize that it frustrated many. Really need to buy into his methodology and create a community to learn physics with. But really enjoyed the time and learned to solve problems

Professor Schwartz has a different way to teaching than many other professors because of the online videos. Overall, I did have difficulty in the class at some times and didn’t understand the material, but his approach to problems using “lenses” has definitely improved my overall understanding of physics problems and concepts.

Professor taught in a flipped classroom structure. It could work; however, the videos of lectures we watched before class ranged from 2-10 minutes, and lectures are usually 50 minutes. Now, I have never learned physics before, so that could be why I am struggling so hard in this class. But every time I would ask the instructor questions, he would ask me something else which I also did not understand and he would belittle my intelligence. I was also in a study session for this class and the leader believed this instructor’s questions were worded weirdly and even he struggled with how to start each problem.

He has a unique teaching style that would work better for other subjects. I feel like I’ve learned a lot in his class, but not about physics. He places a heavy emphasis on the social nature of learning, which overall I think is good, but with such a heavy emphasis on students teaching each other it makes it difficult to know for certain what I’m learning from others is actually correct. There’s a lot of variation of what others think is correct.

Probably the greatest Professor I’ve had so far. He truly understands the subject, can teach on it, and makes class fun and interesting.

Pete is amazing. I find his teaching style extremely helpful and I feel that it made me truly understand the concepts rather than just memorizing formulas. I feel like I actually get the concepts and can apply them to real life. Probably one of the best teachers I’ve ever had.

Pete is everything that I needed in a professor coming back into school. He wanted to create a real learning experience that was not pressured and made me care more about learning the material than getting a good grade.

As I took AP Physics B and C in high school, I didn’t really need the video lectures but Pete was a good teacher.

I understand the concept of the flipped classroom. However, I found it hard to learn outside of class following the videos. They were hard to follow sometimes. I enjoyed the group discussions each day but I felt like it was too much at times. It made lecture seem like it wasn’t worth it and I thought it would be more example heavy. I wish the instructor would have allowed for some discussion and then worked through the WHOLE problem himself. This wasn’t always done. This left my group confused if we got the right answer or not. Overall I think this style of teaching would work, it just needs to be executed better.

Didn’t like flipped classroom approach

The instructor tries to make it seem like watching videos of him teaching at home instead of teaching in his scheduled class time is beneficial to a student’s learning. He spends the majority of class time allowing students to talk to figure out answers to examples, which would be beneficial normally, but half of the time there is no problem to discuss at all, leaving the class to chatter about random nonsense. The instructor spends more time attempting to endear himself to his students than actually attempting to teach the required information. Because of this, every time a student has a problem in his class, he makes it seem like the problem is entirely the student’s fault and the other students back him up. After one quarter, the students sitting next to you will be a better teacher of the subject than the instructor himself, which is normally a great thing to say about a class, but it is resulting from the fact that the instructor was not the best teacher to begin with. This class is the definition of an easy A, which may be what some people want out of a physics class. However, as someone who actually needs this information in order to succeed in my future classes and career, the instructor and the class fail miserably.

The video lectures were a nice touch however i would have preferred some follow up in the classes instead of all peer discussions. I also would have liked shortened exams because on more than one occasion I ran out of time at the end of them.

Extremely passionate instructor about topics within the course, although it would be better suited for Dynamics or statics. The flipped classroom is not the ideal learning style I dont think it is as beneficial as the professor would like to be and the idea of using classmates always as a resource instead of the instructor never worked for me, I spent most of my time not going to class and utilizing the time to be efficient by going to physics department tutoring center and working with tutors on concepts and problem solving.

Good, but not a regular or typical professor. Emphasizes student centered learning.

You’re the man Pete dont let anyone make you think otherwise.

Tough course for me, maybe the teaching style just didn’t work much for me?

Expectacular makes you understadn everything very well

Pete has a very unique way of teaching! It’s very different that the traditional classroom setting. I wish I would of paid more attention. I definitely would recommend his class. If you’re lazy, don’t take him. He actually wants you to learn.

Some questions I marked that he did not answer questions as best he could but this is because of his teaching style. At the end of class we would always have reached an understanding, he just wants us to work through it first which is good.