I appreciated the 'toon physics. Many years ago when I was teaching recitation
sections as a graduate student, I had a young lady confused about the
kinematics of projectile motion. After about an hour of discussion and
chalkboard drawings, she seemed to understand and left satisfied. The next
morning I had a young man come into my office who had the same trouble with
projectile motion. After spending about the same amount of time with him, he
also left seeming to understand the concepts involved.
About an hour later they returned together seemingly as confused as when each
initially came in for help. Together, we went through the concepts, drew
pictures, and wrote equations. I used the Socratic method and asked numerous
questions. After spending nearly another hour, the girl's eyes brightened and
the 'toon light bulb over her head literally turned on.
Cartoon Law I says that until Daffy Duck is made aware of his situation after
stepping off a cliff, he hangs in the air. After looking down the "principle
of 32 feet per second per second takes over." (However, in most cartoons the
acceleration seems to be instanteous.) Cartoon Law IX says that "everything
falls faster than an anvil."
These two students were having to unlearn "laws of physics" seen
(demonstrated) in Saturday morning cartoons. The young lady said with eyes
widened, "You mean that when falling off a cliff..." She was asking about the
falling done by'toon characters.
Ever since that experience, I think I see in part why physics is so much more
difficult for students than is any of the other sciences. Since earliest
childhood, they have been indoctrinated with the Laws of Cartoon Physics.
Students don't know what is wrong and it takes a lot of effort for the teacher
to find out and help them unlearn the false concepts in order that the
correct ones can be learned. May researchers in physics education talk about
Aristotelian concepts that students have that have to be unlearned, but my bet
is that most of the concepts are based on 'toon physics.
I enjoyed the Ten Laws, and know that students are subconsciously imbued with
these false ideas which have to be unlearned.
Roger A. Pruitt
Physics Department--Fort Hays State University
600 Park Street e-mail: phrp@fhsuvm.fhsu.edu
Hays, KS 67601 v-mail: 913-628-5357