He had a shocked expression on his face. The blind student explained that he felt the air rushing with the ball as it swung back. Jim said that he knew then that he had screwed up because he would never be able to reproduce the dramatic reaction that the blind student had to this experiment. Jim Curry said that what he tries to accomplish in his teaching clearly depends on which level of students he is trying to teach. His goal is to connect with students and motivate students to learn.
Undergraduates think of applied math in the abstract.
Jim tries to connect their learning experience with mathematicians that have come before them, such as Pascal, etc. He has them write essays to put what they are learning in an historical context. He tells his students this story. You are walking down the streets of Paris in the 1700s. You hear someone talking in Polish.