[Phys-L] Re: In the Private Universe

[Anthony Lapinski <anthony_lapinski@PDS.ORG>]

My kids don't listen either. Students don't listen because they are
distracted, tired, don't care, the subject is too easy/hard, or the
teacher/class is boring. Remember the Chinese proverb:

I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.

Science should be the most exciting subject in school as it is inherently
interesting and relevant to everyone. I do many hands-on activities so
students will enjoy physics/astronomy and remember what I say -- for life
(not just for college). Everyone should know why we have seasons. Everyone
should take a good physics/astronomy class.

Forum for Physics Educators <PHYS-L@list1.ucc.nau.edu> on Wednesday,
February 23, 2005 at 8:12 AM -0500 wrote:
> David Marx writes
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David T. Marx [mailto:marx@PHY.ILSTU.EDU]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 10:29 PM
> To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
> Subject: Re: In the Private Universe
>
> > To me, the source of this mistake is the textbooks.  The Earth is
> always
> > shown from a side view with a very elongated ellipse and the point is
> made
> > that the sun is at one of the foci.  What other conclusion do we expect
> > students (and often their teachers) to draw from this other than the
> mistaken
> > explanation for the seasons?
>
> I suspect that the problem is not the textbooks, themselves.  Rather,
> the students don't read them, or if they do the reading they don't
> understand what they are reading.  Every intro astronomy text that I've
> ever used clearly states that seasons are a result of the inclination of
> Earth's equator to the plane of the ecliptic ... and the diagrams and
> captions show the difference between northern and southern hemisphere
> summer, winter, spring, and fall.
>
> Also, as another colleague points out, I also have written proof that
> they don't listen, either!
>
> ********************************************
> "Eternity is very long,
>                 especially toward the end."
>                                -  Woody Allen
> ********************************************
>
> Dr. George Spagna
> Chair, Physics Department
> Randolph-Macon College
> P.O. Box 5005
> Ashland, VA 23005-5505
>
> phone: (804) 752-7344
> fax: (804) 752-4724
> e-mail: gspagna@rmc.edu
> http://faculty.rmc.edu/gspagna