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Re: Hand waving in physics teaching?



One thing I forgot. The most important thing is " he tries to explain". As
Feynman pointed out his trying to explain did not work. The problem is that
he us using only lecture to help students build understanding. Targeted
limited lecture with minds on/hands on activities will actually work. This
is the pedagogical problem.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX


I just had an interesting conversation with a physics professor. He said
how he tries to explain physical phenomena to students without
mathematical models, say
in electromagnetism at a undergrad level. Then he continued that this
"hand waving" is not enough, and of course students need also to master
the topics; by this
he meant the mathematical mastery.