Re: Time to retire?

[John Clement <clement@HAL-PC.ORG>]

Actually when I question them they know what a moving van is.  I ask them if
they have ever seen a moving van.  It is just that some of them can not
parse the question properly.  The problem is a lack of using a common sense
interpretation.  They are in physics mode and the word moving triggers the
idea that it is moving.  I suspect that if they saw it in a nonphysics
context they would have no trouble with it.  This probably relates to the
problems that Benezit uncovered in math teaching.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX

> Of students being puzzled over the words "moving van," John Clement said
> "Surely they have seen commercials for moving companies???"
>
> Hmmm... has it come to that?  That is, do we have to hope that
> what we want
> students to know has been depicted on TV often enough that they will have
> seen it there?
>
> Well... I knew about moving vans when I was 18, but not from seeing
> commercials on TV.  I saw them for real, because I played outdoors or
> otherwise spent a fair amount of time outdoors and/or interacting with the
> real world rather than the TV world.
>
> I continue to be amazed how much common knowledge my generation
> had compared
> to today's students.  Oh sure, some of this is selective memory and
> nostalgia and all that.  But I am worried about a population that
> gains most
> of its perception of the world from TV.  I got to watch TV one hour per
> night if my homework was done.  But I didn't even watch it that
> much; I only
> watched if there was a particular show I wanted to see.  Otherwise I had
> other things I wanted to do.  I entertained myself quite well all
> by myself
> and the world around me.  Today many kids can't entertain
> themselves.  They
> will complain there is nothing good on TV, but they'll sit there and watch
> it anyway.  I think it not only gives them a funny view of the world, it
> also stifles their curiosity and exploration of the world.
>
> Sorry... when we old timers hear people talking about students not knowing
> stern of a ship or what a moving van is, we can get pretty cynical.
>
>
> 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