do teachers listen? (was "particle position", etc.)
From: "JACK L. URETSKY (C)1998; HEP DIVISION, ARGONNE NATIONAL LAB ARGONNE, IL 60439" <JLU@HEP.ANL.GOV>
Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 11:34:13 -0500
Does everyone remember the joke about the little girl who asked
her mommy, "Where do I come from?". Mommy gave a lecture on reproductive
biology whereas the intent of the question was purely geographical.
Jim Green asks wonderful questions, in terms of reminding us about
some of the elements of good teaching. How many of the teachers on this
net rush to answer their student's questions, as many did with the first
version of Jim's particle position question, without carefully probing to
find out what it is that the student wants to know.
Many students, when given a detailed answer to the question that
they did not mean to ask, simply shrug and shut up. The teacher may have
simply confirmed the student's belief that communication with the teacher
is a lost cause. I probably have the same reaction when I talk to lawyers
who are anxious to lecture me on what they know rather than wait to find
out what I want to learn.
The rule that I try to follow, not always successfully, is to
either ask the student for further elucidation or to restate the question
in different language. The purpose of either response is to determine
whether we are on approximately the same track.
I think it was Ken Watson who used to tell his students, "No
two people can communicate." I suggest that good teachers accept this
precept as a zero'th approximation.
I also suggest that Jim's last question is being misconstrued
by those who have answered it to date. But only Jim can tell us if I'm
right.
Regards,
Jack
"I scored the next great triumph for science myself,
to wit, how the milk gets into the cow. Both of us
had marveled over that mystery a long time. We had
followed the cows around for years - that is, in the
daytime - but had never caught them drinking fluid of
that color."
Mark Twain, Extract from Eve's
Autobiography