Re: How much is too much?

["John S. Denker" <jsd@MONMOUTH.COM>]

Tina Fanetti wrote:
> > 1-2 homework assignments of about 10 problems
> I meant about 1-2 homework assignments a week.
> I am leaning towards 1 per chapter.
>
> ... problems that would take them 20-30 minutes.
> I think.  Basically problems that I can do in 5 minutes or so.

1) I still think factors of 2 are significant.
 -- twice a week * 10 * 20-30 minutes is absurd, so I will
    assume that the intention was 10 problems per week,
    either one block of 10 or two blocks of 5.
 -- once a week * 10 * 20-30 minutes makes 200-300 minutes
    i.e. somewhere between 3.3 and 5 hours per week
    Call it 4+ hours on average.

2) I still think that time spent reading the textbook
  a) is important, and
  b) counts as part of the student's time-budget

If you budget 1 hour per week for reading and thinking, you're
now up to 5+ hours of work outside class.  If you add to that
four short papers during the year, plus a term paper, that
probably breaks the budget for an ordinary 3-hour course.  I'm
following the convention that 3 hours in class goes with six
hours outside class.

Relatively minor adjustments could bring it back within
budget.  For example, assigning no end-of-chapter problems
in weeks when papers are due.

If this is advertised as a 4-hour class then the budget is
correspondingly larger.

> Unfortunately, most of my students can't solve problems involving more than one step.
> Anything that requires assumptions or manipulating equations they have trouble with.
>
> My students can't seem to follow step by step problem solving methods.

You'd better have a plan for overcoming that deficiency.  If
you don't deal with it, you're just perpetuating the grotesque
misimpression that all problems have one-step solutions.

For more on this, see
  http://lists.nau.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0207&L=phys-l&P=R18803