It is useful to approach a topic with which one is generally unfamiliar, or even  not generally interested in, such as  has occurred this summer.  I was trained in in science and research, but rebelled by studying physics instead of biology or medicine like much of my family.  Engaging in the opportunity to study the medical topics is provides not only valuable learning, but also a connection to the difficulty of my students who often are expected to engage with topics they may be uninterested in, often will much less background and opportunity.

In particular, the jargon for a particular topic can be jarring, not only new words but also refining the definition of existing words.  For instance, in physics we have to refine the definition of words such as heat, work, and especially temperature.  As an aside, this is why the overuse of sites such vocabulary.com worries me.  Sometimes words are not context sensitive, especially in math and science and computer science, and implying that some words can have more than one definition can be harmful.

In the current research, the jargon is extensive.  Words such as Dicrotic Notch and Diastolic Peak are unfamiliar and complex.  The methods and data needed to calculate each can be equally complex, not only to understand, but also to derive and gather.  One item I was told to focus on in the new year was to provide more scaffolding for students to help them in the problem solving process.

One thing I have learned over the past two weeks is that the various tools I have picked up over the years allows me to break up complex problems into small pieces, then put those pieces back together into a overall solution.  I can eliminate extraneous information for the current step, then put it back if I need to later on.  I can adjust my thinking to the current rules, like the fact that gol has no ‘a’, so that we can efficiently approach the problem at hand.