Re: Computer Interfaces in the Physics Lab

[brian whatcott <inet@INTELLISYS.NET>]

At 12:17 9/2/00 -0400, John Gastineau wrote:
> It seems we have collectively addressed this topic every six or eight months
> for as long as I've been a part of phys-l--and that means 12 or 14 years.
>
> I want to raise some larger issues before this discussion goes too far.
>
> 1. This topic is well covered in the literature. There is very strong
> evidence for the effectiveness of computer data collection; consult most
> anything written in the last ten years by Sokoloff, Thornton, Laws, or
> Beichner. Without considering educational experiments, we are only throwing
> around opinions that are often not well founded.
>
> 1a. We must guard against what I like to call the
> "My-opinion-is-better-than-your-research" dismissal of educational
> experiments. This is a popular technique of both extreme conservatives and
> extreme liberals.
/snip/
> Finally, remember that all absolute statements are false. ;-)
>
> JEG
>
> --
> John E. Gastineau

I recall an epithet I picked up from some critical work:
"...the smack of firm government"

...and apart from a slight tendency I detect in this piece of John's
to want be agreeable to all sides, which you could label as working
both sides of the street...

 this was the epitome of a smack which refreshed me from my
sympathetic reception of the "back to [d'Arsonval] nature"
 school of experiment in favor of research supported instrumentation
methods.
 Thank you!

brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>  Altus OK
                Eureka!