Re: Ask Marilyn "geometry test"

[SSHS KPHOX <kphox@MAIL.CCSD.K12.CO.US>]

PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu writes:
> (b) I would look to see if the alternate method really has some
> generality to it, or is just a fluke, a memory trick, or right for
> the wrong reasons.

I believe this is the essential move!
> (c) It would probably also depend on how the question was worded. If
> I said, "Use Kepler's laws to ..." I might still accept an alternate
> solution, but only if it were tied to Kepler's three laws.

This is so reminiscent of the apocryphal story about the student who
thought outside the box when asked " Using a barometer, determine the
height of this building." If we ask fuzzy questions then we have to be
ready for correct answers that were not what we had anticipated.

I hold this for ALL levels of education. It is thinking and conceptual
development that we must seek.