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Re: teaching electric circuits



At 9:40 AM +0200 5/6/00, Savinainen Antti wrote:


I agree with Leigh that we must try to teach physics as a
description of the real world. But I have noticed that to achieve
this ”naive” assumptions may be needed in the beginning. Well, I'm
willing to consider using resistors as an example instead of ligh
bulbs; it would make the assumptions less naive.


A _MAJOR_ advantage of using (identical) lightbulbs INSTEAD of
'resisters' is that the brightness of the bulb _IS_ a useful
indication of the current and voltage that the bulb is experiencing.

Quite complex series/parallel combinations _CAN_ be explored
successfully by intro students, many of whom _DO_ internalize the
conservation laws of charge and voltage from these explorations.

Perhaps this discussion belongs on PhysLerner (or whatever the
pedagogical phys list is called) but I would encourage the nay-sayers
on _THIS_ list to _TRY_ the suggested exercises with identical bulbs
in various series/parallel combinations.

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