Then there was the time I had an extremely bright student who always
worked every "3-star" problem at the end of the chapter even though I
only assigned 1-star and 2-star problems.
Occasionally he asked to look in the answer manual so he could see if
his answer agreed with the author's answer. Only once did he ask me to
help him work a problem. Upon reading the problem I remarked that it
was a really ineresting problem and I was not sure how to approach it.
I said we could try a particular approach and he said he already tried
it and got stuck. I thought of another approach and he said he tried
that also. I suggested a third approach and he stood up, started
leaving my office, and said, "That's it. Thanks."
It wasn't obvious to me that that was it, so I said, "Wait a minute,
tell me what makes you think that approach will work." He said, "Try it
yourself. You'll see. It's trivial once you start the way you
suggested."
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics and Chemistry
Bluffton College
Bluffton, OH 45817
(419)-358-3270
edmiston@bluffton.edu