Re: ??? ??? ???=the nature of students

[Leigh Palmer <palmer@sfu.ca>]

> 	I do have some small data to support this.  I have regularly asked
> a class each year, when reaching optics, how many have played with a
> magnifying glass, especially to burn paper, etc.  I ask this in order to
> point out the definition of a focal point and focal length.  Over the past
> 16 years I've seen the precentage drop from about 80% to 30% in classes
> other than intro physics, i.e. for non-science students.

I've been using that same question (well, actually I ask how many
haven't burned something with a magnifying glass) for over twenty
years. I've never had a class, not even a third year optics class,
in which no one admitted to never having done this. In my youth
that would have been unthinkable! I just did it again on Wednesday
in an introductory class. Three students out of 40 admitted to
never having done it. That's a smaller number than I've been led
to expect from previous years.

Incidentally, no student who admits not having done it gets out of
my class without doing it. I supervise personally.

Leigh