Stowe, Keith  

This guy is awesome! I really enjoyed this class and found it really interesting. You have HW that is due every class, thats a bit of a bummer, but a grade booster. You also have a mult choice quiz every Monday, two midterms that have mult and long answer questions and a mult choice final. Not a hard class, just go to class and you will get everything.

This guy is tight! hes a funny ass motherfucker and his lectures are interesting. asto 101 is a cool ass class too. i would have EASILY gotten an A if a wasnt still drunk from the night before when i went to class.

probably the best teacher and the best class i have had at cal poly. i learned a lot of interesting thigns and actually enjoyed going to class.

Stowe was one of the best teachers I've had since being here at Cal Poly. He's got a good heart and wants nothing more than to see his students do well. He was always willing to do whatever it took to make sure that his students felt that he was handling everything in a fair manner. And he did. He was very funny, and very interesting. Always easy to get along with. Stowe was a great teacher.

He tries to make his lectures interesting, but he belittles himself so much that it is distracting. His tests are based on a study guide. However some of the questions in the study guide were not covered in lecture or in the book and he won't tell you the answer. He tries to help his students to succeed, but because his lectures aren't clear enough or his tests are too hard, there is a pretty large curve.

I've had Dr. Stowe for two quarters already and I wouldn't mind having him for another class as well. He is fun and he keeps you entertained while you are learning. Don't get me wrong, you have something due everyday whether it is a homework or a quiz, but they aren't too hard. I love his class and I recomend it to everyone.)I had Oceanography too and it was great as well)

Dr. Stowe made Physics so interesting. He is goofy but he is so kind hearted. I have never had a teacher that cared so much about his students, or was s o vocal about it. He would stop class just to tell us how bright and wonderful we were and that the future was lucky to have us as leaders. It was cheesy but everyone loved it. He also expains things extreemly clearly and is an awsome lab instructer. If you cant get him for lecutre, at least get him for the lab. Also very aproachable. The only thing that I would warn you about is that he grades on a bell curve, so you have to do really well to get an A.

Along with everyone else, I strongly feel that Stow is generally interested in the well-being of his students. Too bad our well-being is not in direct proportion to our grade. I worked hard the entire quarter, receiving c's on my midetrms, all my work in and labs and everything. He told one of my classmates that if he did well on the final, he'd help him out. Well where is my help? I have to re-take the course again with a different teacher and different book, thank god!!

Dr. Stowe is one of the best teachers I have had at Poly. He is extremely knowledgeable, organized and funny. I loved his lectures because he has this very interesting, dry sense of humor. He is very clear in his explanations and makes things very easy to grasp by drawing pictures, writing out concepts, and acting out movements. Also, this guy totally loves his family, you can tell because he is always talking about his wife and his mother. His mom was an English teacher, so he is very good at spelling and grammar. If you're lucky, he'll take time out of lecture to share a quip or two about life. He's a great teacher who truely cares about his students' learning. He gives study guides if you ask for them and is up for letting the class make decisions when tests or quizes need to be changed to another date. Talk about devoted, this guy never missed a day in 30 years of teaching until this year when his mother passed away.

Dr. Stowe is a very knowledgeable guy. Took time to remember everyone's name and totally helped when asked a question. The class was very interesting, the lectures were fine, he would crack jokes every once in a while, but the tests were incredibly hard.

Prof. Stowe knows his stuff. I think he's been teaching for 30 years, so he's had enough time to figure out what works in a class and what doesn't. He loves teaching, and he's not afraid to tell you so. He'll even give the class little pep talks about how physics will help us in the future, and how much potential we have. The class just sits there smiling. Homework is collected every day, but it really helps to keep you on track. And because it's not really hard, you won't mind it that much anyway. Stowe will go over any question you have in class, and you get the feeling that he really wants you to learn. I also had him for the Phys 121 lab, and he pretty much tells you exactly how to write your lab reports. My lab partner and I screwed up our experimnet, and he came right on over to fix it for us. His tests are fair and not too difficult as long as you study. This guy is great- one of the best teachers I've had at Cal Poly, and I would take him again if I could.

I took physics my senior year of high school, so I had a fairly good understanding of all the concepts. I got A's and B's on all the quizzes, and I did well on the midterm, I'm almost positive I'll end the class with an A, but the teacher is not good. I can appreciated the format of the class, with daily homeowkr and weekly quizzes (those are what help to check your learning), but the lectures were virtually useless. I only attended class usually once or twice a week, the other days I would just go and drop off my homework and leave. The reason why I was able to be successful in the class was because of my prior knowledge of physics. If I had never taken physics before this class, I may not have even been able to pass the class. The professor is passionate about the subject and about teaching, but he openly admits that he's a bad teacher. He might be joking, I really can't tell, but as a student that's a major turn off. For example, he gave back a quiz where the class average was around 50% and he kept on saying "Well maybe you just have a horrible teacher, sorry!". Even if he was joking, for a teacher to just joke about his abilities (or lack thereof) as an instructor after the majority of the class failed the quiz is very off putting. I don't appreciate that at all. Again, understand that this evalutation isn't coming from a student who's bitter about getting bad grades. I will most likely end the class with an A and I still think very poorly of this class. I would only reccomend it to people who feel skilled in physics who need an easy class to fill a GE.

Stowe is a good professor becaus he uses the same methods in teaching everything he teaches. He really enjoys teaching and keeps it as interesting as physics can be. There isn't too much work in the class, hw is graded, but most of your grade is weekly quizes which are just like the homework problems he does in lecture. Bottom line is that physics is still physics.

The material in the course is straightforward and easy to understand right off the bat. Stowe give a quiz every monday morning with closely resembles homework problems. Do well on the quizes because they constitute 56% of your grade! Hoemwork is due every class, aren't worth too much overall but do them so you are ready for the quizes. He repeats himself in lecture a lot, and also spent a lot of time advertising poly at sea, but other than that lectures were ok. Not too informative but he familiarizes himself with you over the quarter so it makes a good impressino to go to class. No midterm given, so there's lots of extra time in lecture for him to ramble. Final was very simple and resembled the quizes. Easy class, just study a bit and do the homework.

Stowe is a great instructor. Very helpful and easy to understand, and has a sense of humor too. His tests and quizes are bases straight off the homework.

Professor Stowe is a very good prof to take for PHYS LEC 132. He presents the material very well, even though he is a little goofy at times (he does it on purpose). There are weekly quizes which count for the majority of your grade, so you have to do well on those in order to do well in the class. HE GRADES ON A BELL CURVE!! If you don't do well in physics then you might want to take someone else, because he guarantees that some will fail. STUDY FOR THE QUIZZES!!! Take my advise seriously. Take hime if you like physics or if you have to chose between him and Schwartz.

Prof. Stowe is a really good guy...he is friendly, and he is very energetic...its obvious to see he loves what he does...the problem is he is no good at what he does. He doesn't really explain formulas very well, he will dervive them all but never explain what kind of situation they are used it...its up to you to fuck up on a quiz and figure out...only problem is quizes are 50% of the grade...so u fuck up enough and you get fucked over...if you are good in physics and feel you know the subject well be my guest and take him, but if you usually have a hard time grasping topics like this quickly i would suggest taking someone who is a little more clear

Dr. Stowe's lectures are really easy to follow and well organized. He is really goofy and puts himself down though. You probably wont fall asleep with him lecturing. He makes you take a quiz each week. It was good for me because it kept me on my toes and less pressure then only taking two huge tests. He is really big on theory so that is a huge chunk of your quizzes. He doesnt do any examples so if you learn from examples then dont take him. The quizzes and final were based all on the homework so do the homework and you will pass.

Stowe was a good teacher. He explained everything thoroughly. His main problem was that he would review each day, which would take away from the time he could have spent on new stuff or doing example problems. He gave a quiz each week rather than midterms and they were worth 56% of our grade. Usually 1/3 of each quiz would be on theory, so you really had to know the theory to do well on them. The final was mostly based on homework. I had him for lab also, and I thought he was a good instructor for it. We had to turn in lab reports at the end of each class, but he practically walked us through them so it wasn't a big deal. He seemed interested in the students, and I would recommend him.

Ok, I really don't know why people had such a problem with Stowe. He was honestly one of the best teachers I've ever had. He was extremely organized, wrote well and slow enough for everyone to keep up, and come on! he spends the first 10 minutes of class reviewing what happened the lecture before! He tells you exactly what you need to know and reviews enough that you should get a good feel for the course. It's not tough- he has homework due every day of class (only a couple of problems) that just keep you up on the material, and he has quizzes every week. Plus you can drop a quiz score and something like 3 homework scores. He's extremely fair, has cool demos, and is full of awesome little physics facts of the shit around us. And he's EXTREMELY helpful in office hours, gets excited when you get the right answer, and will pretty much tell you how to do the homework problems. Sometimes the quizzes have problems from material covered previous weeks, but that's about the only thing I didn't like. TAKE HIM IF YOU CAN! I recommend him to everyone!

Dr. Stowe is an excellent teacher. No midterms... only curved quizes,hw collected and a final. Study your notes and HW... Thats where the questions for the quizes come from.

Good teacher, probably the best one to take for this class. He is very clear and his notes will help you very much. In his class you will have weekly quizzes intead of one or two midterms. He is also friendly and approachable; his office hours are very helpful. Homework is very helpful and you preety much have to do hmk for this class every day for this class. The only problem is the very difficult final test (the one that took me from a solid C to a D). Other than that, he is probably the easiest teacher for this class, if you are into physics or are good at it, then this should be an easy class, and if this isn

that last post was for phys 132, not 131. also had him for 132 lab. very easy. always get out at least half an hour early. first hour was recitation and he would basically repeat the main stuff from lecture that week, then lay out exactally what you had to do in lab, set up equations and stuff for you so only minimal work was required. do experiments quickly, complete a one page "report" in class and sometimes draw a graph and then you're out of there. occasional pop quizes sometimes too on what the experiment was going to be about, but you can bomb every one and it won't affect your grade at all

If you like to be talked to like you're in elementary school, this is the professor for you. Stowe isn't a bad professor by any means... I rarely went to class after the first few weeks and had a D going into the final, then pulled of a C... The weekly quizes are awesome (instead of having a few midterms during the quarter). So, quizes, a final, and daily homework that is a piece of cake. Do the homework and you'll do fine on the quizes... I ended up with that D just because I wasn't doing some of the hw, thus doing poorly on the quizes. Don't do what I did. ;) It's an easy A if you put just a little effort into the class. The material isn't that challenging... you'll get a sheet of pre-made notes/equations for use on all the quizes/final. I learned some interesting stuff in this class, but Phys211 is much better. ;) That's a whole other paragraph though... This is a good professor, take him!

At first I didn't like Professor Stowe, but after a bit I realized he is an awesome teacher. His lectures are well organized, he is a nice guy, he has nice demonstrations, is an interesting lecturer, is reasonable but challenging in his expectations of his students, and seems to genuinely enjoy teaching. That said, his style is different. His lectures aren't very interactive. He seems to have the ability to talk continuously for a full hour. He's a weird guy but likeable. I would take classes from him again, no hesitation.

Prof. Stowe has a really different approach to teaching (at least relative to the other prof's that I've had). Your grade consists of weekly 30-minute quizzes (56%), homework (12%), lab (8%) and a final (24%). For the most part he lectures pretty well, and his quizzes are pretty close to the homework problems (and plus he allows a crib sheet of notes for them, even though he gives you a formula sheet at the beginning of each quiz), so it's definitely a wise idea to keep up with the hw. However on a couple quizzes, he will throw a derivation problem on (so be sure to study those), and there's bound to be at least one of those problems on the final (like ours). With the exception of a few that I failed to prepare for, I didn't have too much problem with the quizzes. The final consists of problems similar to those of the quizzes and hw, although there were a couple that were impossible for me to do (then again, I was busy studying for other classes at the time and didn't have much time here). Oh yeah, and expect the quiz averages to be around 50-60%, so with his curve, down to 85% average on the quizzes becomes an A. Overall, good prof, would definitely take again.

I was supposed to have Sharpe but I showed up to the first day and had Stowe. I should have walked out. His quizes are ridiulously hard and I failed all but two of them. He will randomly have problems that are neither a homework problem or in his notes. He will also put questions from the challenge part of the homework. He made a horrible final. It contained some derivations, (which no one knew) and a stupid problem with the velocity of air above the wing of a plane. I still dont know how to do that problem. Avoid him and be careful when teachers change on you!

I do not understand how so many people could do so badly in this class. He gives absurdly easy quizzes. The quizzes consist of 3 or 4 problems where you look up an equation on the sheet he gives you and then plug in the numbers from the problem and get an answer. It was a joke. His lectures are okay. He tries to act enthusiastic but I couldn't help but be bored, 132 isn't the most exciting class anyway.

This Professor was a very nice guy, but beware. A CUMULATIVE quiz every Week, 15 minute Time Period. While his office is in the learning Center, he likes to explain things to several students at a time. Rather than zeroeing in on how each individual student understands it. He allows, a note sheet after a few quizes; it is a good idea to have identities on it as well as other components. While this professor was a sweet heart and genuinely wants to help all the students understand Physics, he is not a great option if you are not that great at taking tests.

amazing lab instructor, very funny, very into the material he teaches, gives a mini lecture at the begining oflab to go over homework problems, all labs completed in class, never had to take home to finish, quiz every lab but it was a group quiz, lab final in end, could only help you, not hurt your grade, only bad thing was S-, s S+ grading. he refused to give S+ on anything so your lecture grade generally could onle be brought down or stay the same.

Dr. Stowe is an incredibly nice man, has a good sense of humour, and most certainly has the intelligence expected of a college professor. He is good at imparting concepts in a way that makes sense, but he has a definite weakness when it comes to testing students' knowledge of those concepts. His weekly quizzes, though based on homework, were often extremely difficult, even with the formula sheet he gives you. He once marked me off more points than a question was worth (minus 3.5 out of 3) for using an equation not on his sheet. Also, be prepared for questions where you must derive a formula - there were two of these on the midterm, which tanked my grade on that test. Homework is collected every day, but only two problems need to be turned in - DO NOT BE TEMPTED BY THIS! Even though you don't have to, if you don't do every single homework problem and understand it, then you will be ill-equipped to handle the quizzes. Overall not a bad teacher, but stay on top of the homework and REALLY study for every quiz - they will have a major positive effect on your grade if you do well on all of them. He does curve the class somewhat, so acing quizzes and doing reasonably well on the midterm and final will be your ticket to an A or B in the class.

Stowe is a decent teacher. He presents the material very very well initially, however if you do not understand it initially his office hours are completely useless. He gives you a list of homework at the beginning of the quarter and never explains enough in class in order to complete the HW so it is practically pointless. He is very fair with his grading. He would be a great teacher if: A. He explained the information needed for the homework B. Did examples in class and C. Should get rid of the pointless derivations he expects you to memorize. I would consider him a "second string" professor

Professor Stowe has a really good sense of humor which made the class interesting. Other than that his lectures do no help that much when it comes to doing the homework. The first day he gave us a sheet with all the hw problems suggested by him. He also gives us an equation sheet which can be hard to use during the test because he makes the test so that u have to derive equations. If you have a strong background on physics take him if not look for someone else. Also there is only one midterm so if you mess up it will be hard to bring your grades up. I would agree that he needs to make book problems in class that way we can understand the lecture better.

NO MIDTERM!!! yes no midterm instead weekly quiz each monday. your worse grade gets droped so you get the best 8 or 9. the quiz is your HW! and if every one gets one problem wrong you'll know its on the next quiz or maybe in the quiz after that so make sure to check all your quizes befor monday. bye the end of the qt you should be able to know whats going to be on there. his a realy nice guy and lets you use a cheat cheat if the class is doing bad on the quizes. but number one reason to take this guy is no midterm!

Professor Stowe is kindof kwirky, but he's a great guy who really cares about your education. If you get the chance, definately take him for any physics class you need. You'll learn the material and not have to stress over it too much, expecially because he does not give a midterm. Although, he does give a quiz every Friday, so you need to keep up with the information. Just come to class every day (oh THERE's a shock), and an least try a few homework problems, and you'll do fine.

Stowe for lab = highly recommend. His lab was the same EVERY single time, and he basically did the lab for us. Dont forget your significant digits though. Also, see him during his office hours because he really knows his physics and can explain the hardest problem to ways even a child can understand.

If you have Stowe for a lab, you are golden. He reviews the material for the hour of recitiation, but I was too busy either reading the campus newspaper or solving the daily Sodoku puzzle to really pay too much attention how the first hour went. He gives you a quiz before actually beginning the lab to make sure you read the procedure and what-not, these are easy and do not seem to affect your grade significantly. Labs were kind of completed at your own pace, he pretty much did the lab himself in front of everyone and you had to manipulate it to get the same results. The longest my partner and I ever took to complete the lab was about 2.5 hours and the earliest was about 90 minutes (including the 60 minute recitation). Friendly and personable teacher, take him for your lab if possible.

This guy pushed every button in my book. I only had him for lab (thank God) and that was pretty bad. Granted he knew his stuff as far as I could tell, but he really stuck to procedure and went over lots of things that could have been skipped. He is also somewhat annoying and immature, sorta like a prof teaching college level physics to 1st or 2nd graders. I would say pass on him again.

He presented the important stuff from the chapters (formulas) and set up selected homework problems (practically doing your homework for you). Weekly Quizes weren't bad, but do the homework for yourself if you want to get it. If you can learn that way go for it, but most people need to practice just a little. He's a cool guy, but could spend a little more time explaining and less time talking about how confusing he can be and stories from "400 years ago."

Dr. Stowe is awesome. He teaches well, grades fairly easy, and is funny/nice. One of the best professors I've had at poly.

Just doesn't present the material clearly AT ALL. He puts the entire lesson plan on the board at the beginning of the class, and gives a quick, non-supportive, super brief overview of the section in about 10 minutes, then goes into sample questions. Sure he'll be a good teacher if you've taken physics in high school, but I didn't. Quizzes were worth 42% of the grade, and they progressively got intense. I got an 85% on the midterm, but still managed a D in the class. Final was pretty simple, but obviously didn't help my grade at all. Do well on the quizzes. His grading and teaching system is seriously screwed up. Don't take Stowe.

stowe is a very nice, funny old man but at times his lectures can be very slow and repetitive. The 8 quizzes make up most of your grade but you get to drop your lowest score...the daily homework only hurts your grade if you dont do it and does almost nothing to raise it even if you do it all. and sometimes his grading is really weird...like i lost all the points on a problem on my quiz even tho i got the right answer because he "didnt like" my work overall hes a nice guy and an okay teacher

While on one hand Stowe does get you to learn the material, he does it through having you do examples and problems rather than actually teaching you the material and formulas. His grading system is unknown to everyone except him. He does not grade on a point or percentage scale. I'd say try to avoid his class unless your only other option is Professor Mottmann.

Dr. Stowe was a great teacher. At first you may be overwhelmed because he talks very quickly and you feel like you are going to miss important material, but soon you realize that he repeats everything a number of times. More than 5 times in that class I had the "Ah ha!" feeling when he repeated something over again and I finally understood it. I like how he repeated important material because I feel like some teachers show you something once and expect you to recognize its importance. Dr. Stowe covered all important lecture material and really sets you up will for the next two physics classes. His weekly quizzes are not too bad, just keep up with the homework (which is 3 problems due each class day and he sets them up for you in class- totally not bad). I liked how quizzes were a large part of your grades (I mean, at least it wasn't one huge exam, like Barjami who I have now). Anyways, take Stowe!

First off, he is a nice guy with genuine concern when it comes to helping students do well, he has an honest heart and wants everybody to succeed and believes that everybody can. In class it may be hard to tell sometimes, he starts deriving a formula and can get kind of lost, but its not horrible. He tells you most of what you need to know, and if you can follow and understand examples well it is pretty consistent with tests. Do the homework! It is not that much, free points, and will let you ace the quizzes that come every week. Midterm wasn\'t too bad, final was so-so. Overall he is hard to follow for a lot of things, not an easy A really but a doable class with some honest effort.

Professor Stowe is extremely energetic in his representation of the material for the course and is second to none with one-on-one help as long as you can get him to slow down during his explanations. He teaches by example so if you\'re looking for an instructor to teach you physics purely conceptually he isn\'t your guy. If, on the other hand, you learn best by seeing something done and working through problems in class together he\'s perfect for you. Sometimes his energy in class can detract from his clarity but if this ever happens go to his office hours and work through all of the homework problems he assigns with the solution sets and you\'ll be fine. Got a B once I figured out his strength as a one-on-one guy, before that I was failing.

Professor Stowe was by far one of the best instructors I ever had. He's funny and really knows the material. And when you come to his office hours he's VERY helpful and genuinely glad to see you. His tests are a little on the difficult side, but once I figured out how to study for them (notecards of all the boldface terms) I found I didn't have to study that much. If I could take another class with him I DEFINITELY would!

Stowe was very entertaining and very enthusiastic about what he teaches. You can definitely tell he is passionate about what he does. The homework every day is not bad at all and all of the quizes were very reasonable expecially when you get to drop your lowest grade, however the midterms were redicilous. I think the whole class failed it and he didn\'t even curve it. When a student finds a question that does not make sense and everyone knows it is wrong he still will not change it. The midterms are the only complaint I have about this course, but overall I really enjoyed going to this class and I really did gain some knowledge from Professor Stowe.

A very good prof. who really cares about the material and the students.

I really liked this oceanography course because it was interesting and fun. He is however a strict grader and you really should go to his classes because he goes over the book really well. He wrote his own book, which is great. I recommend him.

Way way way too hard for a 3 unit GE class. Stowe gives tests that are fill-in!!! 128 fill in questions is absurd. I dont know what these people are talking about but this was the biggest waste of time. If I didnt study, I would have failed. Out of 40 people on each test, there was like 15 Fs. The guy is a total goofball, makes fun of himself, and has some serious mental problems. Do not take this class.

Fill in the blank midterms? What a joke... I just wanted this class to fufill my GE for physical science and wound up studying my ass off to get a D....I'm not alone a lot of people did really shitty. Take Geology or something else. Stowe is a nice guy, but has no clue how to make tests fair

I got a 65% and received an F in the course!!! When I talked to him he gave me this crap that, there is no constituational amendment that makes 60% and up a D...A nice goofy guy in class but an AWFUL grading scale...Out of 40 people he failed 9!!! I just took this class because I thought it would be a pretty easy GE.

For a GE course, DO NOT take PSC 201, most difficult GE at Poly no doubt. 128 Fill-In the blank questions??? Very Very difficult even if one study's and takes good notes. He is A.) Aburd B.) Goofy C.) An Asshole Remember students a 65% is an F according to Dr. Stowe. Save yourself now, take Geology. Thank You

He did do that fill in the blank crap on the first midterm but he is such a sweet guy that he asked us how we'd like the second midterm and he made it multiple choice. He rips on himself way too much but his lectures are great. HARD tests though...

Dr. Stowe is very nice and I enjoyed this class. It may be more work than you were expecting, though. One objection I have, is some ambiguous essay grading. Fortunately, most of the points are in the multiple choice questions. You can get by if you either just go to class, or if you just read the book. However, you should do both if you want to get an A or a B.

Professor Stowe was the worst professor I have had at Cal Poly so far. His tests and quizzes which were every week had nothing to do with his lecture. You basically had to teach yourself. I went into his office hours every week for help and all he would do was give me a bank stare. He is a nice man but a HORRIBLE teacher. I would NEVER recommend him or ever take him again.

He uses his own old, yellowish notes to teach. He tries to be funny but he makes a fool of himself. He is from another era. He forgets things, his notes are confusing and wrong in some cases. I decided to study from another textbook which is correct and current. The bottom line, he is easy (as long as you follow his notes) and has a lot of experience in the classroom. However, if you want to learn the new development and approaches to the subject, take somebody else.

Dr. Stowe is awesome! He has a quirky sense of humor and a very unique way of keeping the students' attention. My class (45 students) gave him a standing ovation on the last day of class. You'll never get bored with his lectures!

An OLD DINOSAUR that should be teaching just freshman physics. Do not take him. When he is not making a fool of himself, he kinda tries to teach you the subject. The problem is that he learned the subject soooo long ago that his grasp of the concepts is well behind the times. He could not explain alpha decay and he had a hard time using the wkb method for solving quantum wells. You learn much more from a textbook and from working on your own. Forget it!