Re: Internal or external?

[Joel Rauber <Joel_Rauber@SDSTATE.EDU>]

Michael's experience is virtually identical to my experiences and policies.

Joel

> I used to show students both "the long way" using two free body
> diagrams with complete listing of all vector components, and also the
> "short way" using intuition, etc.  I actually referred to
> these as "the
> formal way" and the "intuition way."
>
> It became clear, real fast, that students always looked for the short
> way, and refused to plug through the formal way.  By the time they got
> to exams, many could not do the formal way because they hadn't
> practiced it enough.  They had done most homework problems by
> intuition... often not very good intuition, I'm afraid.
>
> This frustrated me because I tried to teach that the formal way always
> works, whereas intuition only works if you have good intuition.  Of
> course algebra mistakes, especially +- sign errors, are
> possible in the
> formal way, but I didn't take off many (if any) points for
> that kind of
> error if the student was doing a good job of writing down the formal
> vector analysis.
>
> Occasionally mediocre students who knew they had poor intuition would
> take the time to grasp the formal way, and they would
> outperform bright
> students trying to rely on intuition.  When I saw that kind of thing
> happening, I knew I was doing a disservice to the bright students by
> not forcing them to do things in a formal manner.  (Of course they
> never seemed to mind the disservice.)
>
> Today I require that all students to do things the formal
> way.  I often
> point out the intuitive options, but I don't allow that on homework or
> exams.  I point out the intuitive option after I've obtained
> the formal
> result... usually by saying something like, "Look, this result makes
> sense if we view this problem a slightly different way..."
>
> Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.              Phone/voice-mail:
> 419-358-3270
> Professor of Chemistry & Physics        FAX:
> 419-358-3323
> Chairman, Science Department            E-Mail
> edmiston@bluffton.edu
> Bluffton College
> 280 West College Avenue
> Bluffton, OH 45817