Whatever momentum is, wouldn't you rather be gaining?

It's just a second or third or fourth language. Science. The bigger problem is that you know all the words, they just don't mean what you think they mean. It's hard enough teaching terms like meiosis, which is just what it is, and doesn't have another meaning, but try teaching kids the physics meaning of work. You know work equals force multiplied times distance. You can sit there and push and push and push and apply a freaking enormous force, but if the object doesn't move, then you've done no work. Nope, not according to the physics definition of work.

I've just started a unit on momentum. I've been incorporating foldables into my lessons. Basically creating 3-D graphic organizers and I love it. So I was searching momentum on google images to find a nice picture to add to my lesson when this came up...

I like the quote. It's interesting and something to ponder, except that it has nothing to do with the physics concept of mass multiplied by velocity, which is momentum and measured in kg m/s. No wonder kids have such a hard time with physics. We are taking words they've used their whole lives and saying, oh, but now it means something else.

We also like to use the same word to mean two different things. Like how long is the drive to your house, could mean that I want the distance or the time. This confuses things. Isn't length a distance? Why do we use length to measure time too? Is time just a linear distance?

You see why I want to teach biology?