Physics for a Middle Schooler: Integrated Science Lessons Tailored to My Student’s Interests (Volume 1, Second Edition)
ISBN: 979-8-950961-11-3
Publication Date: July 19, 2026
Pages: 214
Categories: Education and Science
Status: Private Access
This book compiles science lessons for middle schoolers that illustrate the ubiquity of math learned at school. Not meant to function as a standalone work, the book is used by the author for tutoring. Diverse real-world case studies, whether about sports, the arts, or news reports, illuminate for tutors how to tailor lessons to their students' interests. The author’s mantra “AI as adversary” tells kids to fight with an AI assistant if they want to get good answers.
—— In the kind of teaching that I do, you have to fight AI to get what you want. ——
I develop science lessons tailored to the interests of an individual student — right now a middle schooler and an elementary schooler. When I do this, I repeatedly ask Claude to check for accuracy and to flag its bold claims. I compare what Claude says with what I know from my own rigorous education. I demand that Claude does not contradict itself. And I capitalize on the wonder that AI makes possible: When Claude said that roly-polies are crustaceans, I harnessed that fact for my elementary schooler into a lesson built around my central idea — a table comparing pillbugs, shrimp, and lobsters.
My lessons for the middle schooler cover physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering, and they emphasize cause and effect: how bicycle gears exploit torque, why runners lean into a turn to eliminate torque, why the pelvis is a Class 1 lever that must stay horizontal during a powerful soccer kick. When I ask Claude to propose scenarios that I can teach — “suggest cool things about soccer” — I sift for what is genuinely surprising. What inspires me as the teacher has inspired the student, who is already curious.
10 Jul 2026 at 11:00 PM in Houston
To S—, my reason for thinking again about physics
Volume 1
SAMPLE — public domain
An Artbook
Subsequent Lessons
#13 Circadian Rhythms and Limit Cycles (Biology, Systems of Equations)
#13 Tetravalent Carbon and the SN2 Reaction (Chemistry, Geometry)
#13 Reference Frames and Time Dilation (Physics, Lorenz and Schwarzchild Factors)
#14 Circadian Rhythms: Overview
#15 Circadian Rhythms: How Does a Cycle Occur?
#16 Circadian Rhythms: How Does a Particular Cycle Occur?
#17 Circadian Rhythms: What Is the Math?
#18 Circadian Rhythms: Starting Conditions and Equilibria / Steady States / Limit Cycles
A Little Bit of History
Lessons Linking All Eight IB MYP Subject Groups
#22 An IB MYP Interdisciplinary Sketch: The Pigment Ultramarine
#23 Heat as a Tool: A Brief Excursion Prompted by Ultramarine
#24 An IB MYP Interdisciplinary Sketch: The Japanese Pagoda
#25 Earthquakes: A Brief Excursion Prompted by the Japanese Pagoda
#26 An IB MYP Interdisciplinary Sketch: Chopsticks
#27 The Human Hand: A Brief Excursion Prompted by Chopsticks
Discovery De Nuevo
Key Figures Here
May 24, 2026 over Zoom, paraphrased
“That was a good lesson.”
“Yes, I like it because it brings together three ideas of science into an amazing feat of engineering.
“Do you remember how we did testing during the pandemic?”
“I was in third grade. We took tests at school.”
“People had to go to clinics. There were tents in parking lots with drive-through testing. Cars lined up.
“I was working at Stanford. In Zoom meetings, professors were thinking of all different ways to build a home test. After six years, it came down to this.”
“My mom and dad had a home test. Once I got COVID and had to stay home for a week. It wasn’t bad.”
“I remember. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, he has it?’ Your parents said that you were alright.
“Remember how we did Zoom because I couldn’t visit you? We would shop for Beyblades.
“The names were hard to spell. We searched for names on a shared screen.
“Once we couldn’t find the name of a Beyblade that you really wanted. You got so exasperated with me that you said, ‘We can’t get it because you can’t spell!’”
The 13-year-old smiles.