Re: h**t

[Roger Haar <haar@PHYSICS.ARIZONA.EDU>]

Hi,
        I basically agree with John.  I admit that at time the term
"heat" can be confusing.  But I thought that at least one
aspect of taking a physics class was learning critical
thinking.  Certainly part of critical thinking involves
being confronted with the a term with various meanings, some
quite different, some subtly different.

        Limiting the use of the term "heat" might allow students to
get through a chapter or two in a text more quickly, but it
is not clear to me that this really helps the student.  What
happens, when (if) they try to apply the information to the
world around them where the use of the term is tightly
controlled?

        I suggest teaching the students that in this context,
"heat" means blah blah blah and in that context it means
yhah yhah yhah.  Yes, this is harder for the students to
learn and you to teach, but understanding how meanings
depend on context is a very important part of critical
thinking ( or even reading).

Thanks
 Roger Haar
 Physics  U of AZ

******************************
John Denker wrote:
> Uhhh, what am I missing?  Heat may be spelled with four letters, but it is
> not an expletive or an obscenity.