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Memorization and terminal physics course



From: SMTP%"rodavies@du.edu" 1-JAN-1997 16:49:48.17
To: davies@purav4.physics.purdue.edu
CC:
Subj: Error Condition Re: Memorization and terminal physics course


Recently, several people contributed personal antecdotes and philosophies
regarding the utility of shallow learning (my term) in their early physics
classes, as this facilitated deeper learning upon revisitating the same topics
in later classes and life experiences. I agree that this can be a very useful
process for those students who will be revisiting, in a formal way, the topics
covered in first courses in physics. This, I gathered, was the point of the
original posts.

I would like to add that this same idea is a strong argument for applying the
"less is more" philosophy to classes for non-physics majors. Specifically, it
argues for a de-emphasis of the memorization required by the chapter-per-week-
of-the-physics-encyclopedia approach, and argues for conceptual change
approaches in such classes. If the students in a class most likely will never
again encounter the material in a classroom, it would be best to give
them the time to go through the assimilation process, so that they might be
able to recognize and apply the concepts when encountered in life.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^ Rob Davies ^
^ Lab Manager and Lecturer ^
^ Physics Department ^
^ University of Denver ^
^ Denver, Colorado, USA ^
^ rodavies@du.edu ^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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Subject: Error Condition Re: Memorization and terminal physics course
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