[Phys-L] On Bulbs Batteries and Engineers

[Joseph Bellina <jbellina@SAINTMARYS.EDU>]

The problem for the electrical engineers was not a simple bulb, wire,
and battery.  I don't know how they would do with that.  Rather is was a
complicated set of series and parallel networks of bulbs.  They were
asked to rank order the brightness of the bulbs, and then predict what
would happen if a wire was connected between certain points in the
circuit.
What happened was that the engineers that I heard about...and of course
I didn't hear about all of them, was that they confused by the
complication of the circuit and set about writing down lots of circuit
equations, when my students knew the ranking could be determined by
simply looking at the circuit and understanding a few simple rules about
current flow.
Of course part of this is the culture.  The electrical engineers were
acculturated to think one way, my students to think another. Perhaps the
engineer's way will work best for them in their profession, and ours
will work best for the pre-service teachers.

joe

Herbert H Gottlieb wrote:

My comments, shown in bold type and preceded with three stars *** and n
bold type, are interspersed in the paragraph below.


Joseph Bellina <jbellina@SAINTMARYS.EDU> writes:


> I would guess that your grandchildren would be lucky since these
> students now understand what guided inquiry is and how it works.


*** I certainly agree that Knowing and Understanding how "guided
inquiry works" is a valuable tool for college students who hope
to become science teachers.



> They (the girls) can also explain how a circuit works in ways that

their boyfriend electrical engineers cannot.

*** It is difficult to believe that boys who have been graduated from
colleges with Electrrical Engineering Degrees have so much difficulty
with a simple series circuit containing only a bulb, a battery, and a
length of connecting wire.

Anyone would certainly be surprised to learn that graduate electrical
engineers were unable set up such a simple electric circuit. Is it
really possible that not even one, in a whole group graduate electrical
engineers, was able make a flashlight bulb light with the aid of a
battery and connecting wires.



> They (the girls) are surprised when they hear their boyfriends saying
> things that they know are obviously wrong.


*** Is it possible that the boys are only joking with the girls to get
their reactins? If so, the boys should mend their ways?




> I don't think its fair, Herb, to criticize until you know more of
> what is happening.  If you were aware of the curriculum and had read my




> note carefully you would have realized that this experience is the
> beginning of their learning not the end.


*** I certainly did not intend to criticize anyone.  It was just
that I have worked many years with graduate electrical engineers
and greatly respect them. Electrical engineering is very rigorous
and those who are graduaterd from colleges with earned degrees
in electrical engineering are among the most capable and intelligent
people that I know. I have never met even one of them who could not
connect a bulb and battery in a simple circuit..

... and cheers 2U2.

Herb
------

--
Joseph J. Bellina, Jr. Ph.D.
574-284-4662, 4968
Saint Mary's College
Dept. of Chemistry and Physics
Notre Dame, IN, 46556