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Re: websites

On Sat, 29 May 1999, Mark Sylvester wrote:

I really think the best way is to exploit the bad sites by getting students
to look them up and find out what's wrong with them. Nobody is ever going
to get rid of all the bad information out there. The first step in
combatting it is to get our students to see that it exists. Seeing a flashy
website with wrong information can induce healthy skepticism.

...and this is not a new issue. Seeing a flashy *textbook* which is full
of wrong information can induce healthy skepticism. It forces us to
develop an intellectual immune-system. It also focuses student attention
on misconceptions held by educators, and on the fact that some educational
concepts are controversial.

For example, is "quantity of heat" wrong in an absolute sense, or is it a
useful concept in some situations? If there is no universal agreement
upon the answer to this question, then this suggests that "quantity of
heat" is controversial, rather than "wrong."

An analogy: if catholics insist that moslems are "wrong," and vice versa,
an outsider would lable this situation as "Religious Controversy." It
seems to me that there are many such "religious controversies" in physics
education, and that they are based on individual preferences, bias, and
emotions rather than upon "right" and "wrong."

We all might prefer that our opponents be wrong in an absolute sense,
rather than simply being "blasphemers" when perceived from our individual
worldviews. If our opponents are wrong, rather than just being different,
then we are the good guys.

((((((((((((((((((((( ( ( ( ( (O) ) ) ) ) )))))))))))))))))))))
William J. Beaty SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billb@eskimo.com http://www.amasci.com
EE/programmer/sci-exhibits science projects, tesla, weird science
Seattle, WA 206-781-3320 freenrg-L taoshum-L vortex-L webhead-L