Re: Is competence in physics as a requirement for teachers of

[Lynn Aldrich <laldrich@miseri.edu>]

Donald,

> Could it be that some of our present problems with education are a result
> of teachers trying to hard to improve teaching? We remember our own
> education: the blood, sweat and tears it took us to wrestle an education
> from a reluctant university, with the ever-present-fear of flunking
> haunting our every step. We remember professors who gave apparently
> unpolished lectures, leaving huge gaps, many ambiguities and even errors
> in their presentations. We remember unfriendly textbooks which seemed
> "over our heads". We recall intimidating exams with sometimes ambiguously
> worded questions, and lab instructions only a few paragraphs long. We
> can't forget the rigid grading standards. We think of those many hours
> burning the midnight oil to get homework done on time, and in the library,
> seeking information and insights we didn't find in the classroom.  We'll
> never forget those professors whose attitude was "They shall not pass!"
> for they still haunt us in our dreams. Somehow, in spite of such a
> haphazard, indifferent and shoddy education, we managed to learn, and even
> to excel, in our chosen subject. 

It seems that "in our chosen subject" qualified your previous paragraph.  I
agree that we physics majors cared enough to figure out what we didn't
understand from our professors' lectures.  And I also think that made me a
better teacher in that I had a better understanding of some of the ways a
student can be confused.  But, the majority of the students most of us
teach in introductory physics (and all of the students I teach since there
is no physics major or minor at my college) are not taking their chosen
subject.  They don't have the same motivation to burn midnight oil that we
had and we need to recognize and accept that.  I didn't always spend the
same effort in my non-physics courses that I spent in my physics courses.
I also think that those of us who majored in physics were usually better
prepared to do well in physics than the majority of non-physics majors.  If
we weren't as motivated or as prepared, we tended to drop out of a physics
major.

> So now that we are teachers, caring individuals that we are, we hope to
> spare *our* students all of this grief. We choose textbooks with lots of
> worked examples, attractive color layout, study aids, overhead
> transparencies [and now computer-aided-instruction]. We spend hours
> preparing class handouts to help students over the rough and difficult
> spots. We agonize to make the wording clear and unambiguous, and try to
> ensure that every question has a simple and closed answer. We prepare
> detailed laboratory instructions, leaving nothing to chance. We relax the
> grading standards to remove any hint of intimidation, so we won't bruise
> tender egos and stifle motivation. We go to conferences to improve our
> teaching skills and polish our classroom presentations, enthusiastically
> jumping on the bandwagon of each new educational fad which promises to be
> the panacea which will at last make education a productive, friendly and
> happy experience. We shun the role as "gatekeepers of our discipline" and
> see our role as "supportive coaches". We enthusiastically accept the
> proposition that everyone is educable, if you make the courses simple
> enough and take out all the tough stuff which causes brain-strain. Our
> goal seems to be to make education an effortless experience for the
> student.

I don't agree that education is an effortless experience for the
non-physics majors no matter how many ways we try to aid them in their
understanding.  Freshmen in my course often tell me physics is harder than
their other subjects-I interpret this to mean it is challenging for them.
They seem to have alot of problems understanding the textbook, in spite of
its nice and colorful diagrams and pictures.  These students in our
"service" courses need some understanding of physics and if we don't
provide the learning environment in which they can develop that
understanding, then we may be shutting them out of their chosen field,
which isn't our chosen field. 

Lynn
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Lynn K. Aldrich		  Phone: 717-674-6376
Asst Prof Physics	  email: laldrich@miseri.edu
College Misericordia	  FAX (8:30-4:30)
301 Lake St		       717-675-4028
Dallas, PA  18612-1098	  FAX  717-675-2441
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