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Brian wrote:
. . .
If you will forgive yet another electrical analogy, it is evidently
a comparable situation to a string of resistors in series.
. . .
Has our discussion about precision in language made analogies something
odious? Then we have lost something valuable. There is nothing to
apologize for. It would be a disservice to our students NOT to point
out such "analogies"; ie., cases where the same mathematical model is
commonly used to describe two or more different phenomena.
...we end up treating students like parrots. We have students
name the phases of the moon on a test. Who has time, or will take the time,
to EXPLAIN or DEMONSTRATE how two spheres revolving around each other
illuminated by a third, distant sphere interact. What teacher asks a
student to EXPLAIN something on a test.
Those who promote the teaching of Science primarily through
mathematical modelling are responsible for this result. There is no time
left for physical or conceptual modelling. Only a tiny fraction of 1% of
people see any meaning in a mathematical model. Yet it is the PRIMARY
teaching method used in many science courses.
Fred Bucheit
(This is surely not a purist's analogy - to compare dV and dT is not
quite respectable...) . . .
brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK
Physics really has only a few basic mathematical models, and not many
more (maybe fewer) basic conceptual models. It is an important part of
our physics to realize that reality is something beyond all of these
models, and to notice that in our analyses one and the same mathematical
model may be paired with different conceptual models to describe
different phenomena. Part of our understanding is to notice, appreciate
and ponder (surely not disparage) the analogies that result.
--
Bob Sciamanda
The energy related threads made me aware that thermodynamic heating
(a process by which the internal energy of a system is changed due to a
difference of temperatures between the inside and outside) should not be
confused with "pseudo-heating", for example, when a penetrating radiation
(alpha particles, electrons, photons, etc.) is entering a system...