[Phys-L] Re: student difficulties with velocity as a vector?

[betwys1 at SBCGLOBAL.NET (Brian Whatcott)]

At 11:07 AM 10/29/2005, you wrote:
> No, it is not that they are not paying attention, it is that they do not
> understand what you are saying.  While there are certainly some that are not
> paying attention, for others your assumptions and theirs do not line up so
> that what they decode is not what you intended to convey.  Then there are
> others for whom there is a lack of certain underlying thinking skills.  2
> dimensional vectors require the ability to do 2 variable reasoning, and
> there are students who are not there yet.

///

> John M. Clement
> Houston, TX

I suppose it is way, way below a physics teacher's mien
to give a pitch like this:
"Folks, there is something very very strange going on with these two balls.
One I drop off the edge of the bench, the other I whack sidewards.
Watch: what is strange about the time the balls take to hit the floor?"

   Show not talk?    Forget about 2-d vectors?  Let's see the evidence first?

Brian Whatcott    Altus OK    Eureka!