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Re: Kinematics First



Please excuse this cross-posting to discussion lists with archives at:

Phys-L <http://lists.nau.edu/archives/phys-l.html>,
PhysLrnR <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/physlrnr.html>,
Physhare <http://lists.psu.edu/archives/physhare.html>,
AP-Physics <http://lyris.ets.org/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=ap-physics>.

In his Phys-L post of 17 Sep 2002 07:54:18-0500, titled "Re:
Kinematics First" Rick Tarara wrote:

"I just don't see how you can introduce Newton's Laws successfully if
students don't understand ACCELERATION."

Had Tarara substituted "Newton's Second Law" for "Newton's Laws" I
would, for once, have agreed with him.

As both Tarara and Mallinkrodt (in his Phys-L post on this thread of
17 Sep 2002 06:56:25-0700) have pointed out, a functional
understanding of "acceleration" doesn't come easily to most students.

Mallinkrodt wrote (my CAPS): "In recent years I've been going around
spouting off my own perhaps marginally hyperbolic observation that
NEWTON HIMSELF DIDN'T UNDERSTAND ACCELERATION". . .[so What's New? -
see the classic paper by Steinberg et al. (1990)]. . . and advocates
a "Forces First" approach (Mallinkrodt 1997) to Newton's Laws.

But as indicated in Hake (2002a) ACCELERATION CAN BE UNDERSTOOD BY
STUDENTS (without reference to Forces and Newton's Laws) IF its
OPERATIONAL DEFINITION is properly emphasized:

HAKE-HAKE-HAKE-HAKE-HAKE-HAKE-HAKE-HAKE-HAKE-HAKE-HAKE
I agree with Arons (1990) that OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS are the KEY to
student understanding of specialized physics terms such as
"position," "velocity," and "acceleration. . . . Unfortunately
"operational definitions". . .(Hake 2001a, Holton & Brush 2001). . .
are rarely discussed in physics texts and are not stressed in most of
the various PER-based pedagogical methods described in the
literature. Exceptions are the Arons-inspired (Hake 1991) Socratic
Dialogue Inducing (SDI) Labs (Hake 1987, 1992, 2001b; Tobias & Hake
1988). . . .[and the Arons influenced McDermott et al. (1996)]. . .
But SDI labs. . .[despite their demonstrated effectiveness (Hake
1998a,b; 2002b,c)] are virtually unknown to most physics teachers and
PER's, and generally ignored in standard PER reference volumes (e.g.,
Redish & Rigden 1997).
HAKE-HAKE-HAKE-HAKE-HAKE-HAKE-HAKE-HAKE-HAKE-HAKE-HAKE


Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>


REFERENCES
Arons, A.B. 1990. "A Guide to Introductory Physics Teaching," see
especially pages 2, 15, 50, 52ff, 60, 94, 159, 289, 315. Wiley;
reprinted with minor updates in "Teaching Introductory Physics"
(Wiley, 1997).

Hake, R.R. 1987. "Promoting student crossover to the Newtonian
world." Am J. Phys. 55(10): 878-884.

Hake, R.R. 1991. "My Conversion To The Arons-Advocated Method Of
Science Education," Teaching Education" 3(2), 109-111 (1991); online
as ref. 8 at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>.

Hake, R.R. 1992. "Socratic pedagogy in the introductory physics lab.
Phys. Teach. 30: 546-552; updated version (4/27/98) online as ref. 3
at <http://physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/>.

Hake, R.R. 1998a. "Interactive-engagement vs traditional methods: A
six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory
physics courses." Am. J. Phys. 66(1): 64-74; online at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/>.

Hake, R.R. 1998b. "Interactive-engagement methods in introductory
mechanics courses," online at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/>
and SUBMITTED on 6/19/98 to the "Physics Education Research
Supplement to AJP"(PERS). [A crucial companion paper to Hake (1998a)
- PER has NO archival journal!] Average pre/post test scores,
standard deviations, instructional methods, materials used,
institutions, and instructors for each of the survey courses of Hake
(1998b) are tabulated and referenced. In addition the paper
includes: (a) case histories for the seven IE courses of Hake (1998a)
whose effectiveness as gauged by pre-to-post test gains was close to
those of T courses, (b) advice for implementing IE methods, and (c)
suggestions for further research.

Hake, R.R. 2001a. "Re: Operational Definitions," Physhare post of 7
Jun 2001 12:18:55-0700; online at
<http://lists.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0106&L=physhare&P=R3101>.

Hake, R.R. 2001b. "Socratric dialogue inducing labs for introductory
physics"; online at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>. See
especially SDI Labs:

#0.1 - "Frames of Reference, Position, and Vectors": "Using
WELL-DEFINED MEASUREMENT OPERATIONS, you will determine your initial
and final position coordinates and position VECTORS, and then use the
position vectors to calculate your vector DISPLACEMENT from your
initial to your final position";

#1 - "Newton's First and Third Laws," especially Sec. II "Operational
Definitions" on pages 7-11;

#2 - Pre-Lab Assignment: OPERATIONAL Definitions of Kinematic Terms.

Hake, R.R. 2002a. "The Language of Physics,"
Phys-L/PhysLrnR/Physhare/AP-Phys post of 6 Sep 2002 14:52:30-0700;
online at
<http://lists.nau.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0209&L=phys-l&P=R13869>.

Hake, R.R. 2002b. "Lessons from the physics education reform effort."
Conservation Ecology 5(2): 28; online at
<http://www.consecol.org/vol5/iss2/art28>. "Conservation Ecology," is
a FREE "peer-reviewed journal of integrative science and fundamental
policy research" with about 11,000 subscribers in about 108 countries.

Hake, R.R. 2002c. "Comment on 'How do we know if we are doing a good
job in physics teaching?' by Robert Ehrlich," Am. J. Phys. 70(10):
1058-1059; online as ref. 17 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>.

Holton G. and S.G. Brush. 2001. "Physics, the Human Adventure: From
Copernicus to Einstein and Beyond." (Rutgers Univ. Press), esp. pages 161-164.

Mallinckrodt, J. 1997. "Force First." AAPT Announcer 26(4): 90;
online at <http://www.csupomona.edu/~ajm/professional/talks.html>.

McDermott, M.C. with P.S. Shaffer & M.L. Rosenquist and the
University of Washington Physics Education Group. 1996. "Physics by
Inquiry: An Introduction to physics and the physical sciences," Vols.
1 & 2. Wiley.

Redish, E.F. & J.S. Rigden, eds. 1997. "The Changing Role of Physics
Departments in Modern Universities: Proceedings of the ICUPE." AIP.

Steinberg, M.S., D.E. Brown, and J. Clement (of Massachusetts not
Texas). 1990. "Genius is not immune to persistent misconceptions:
conceptual difficulties impeding Isaac Newton and contemporary
physics students," Int. J. Sci. Ed. 12(3): 265-273. Evidently NOT on
line :-( .

Tobias, S. & R.R. Hake. 1988. "Professors as physics students: what
can they teach us? Am. J. Phys. 56(9): 786-794.