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[Phys-L] Re: earthquakes +- critical thinking



David Bowman wrote:

As I recall, a change of one unit by one earthquake magnitude point corresponds to a factor of
10^1.5 in released elastic strain energy. This means that a magnitude 8 quake releases about
10^7.5 times as much elastic strain energy as a magnitude 3 quake. I thus have a hard time
seeing how only 10^2 - 10^3 magnitude 3 quakes could have much effect in defusing a potential
magnitude 8 quake by dissipating the built up strain energy involved.

Yes. That's the reasoning I used.

Note that the argument involves two key ingredients:
-- General principles : conservation of energy.
-- Domain-specific knowledge : the Richter scale is logarithmic,
with a huge base.

This is characteristic of real-world questions: they require both
an appreciation for general principles *and* some domain-specific
knowledge.

On top of all that, one must have the _habit_ of critical thinking.
New "facts" should never be blindly accepted, but rather checked to
see where they fit relative to other things one knows.


Anthony Lapinski wrote in part:

Give some "essay" questions your tests as I do. It will open your eyes into what your students
know and how they apply what they know.

Yeah.

I wonder when we will see an "essay question" section on the physics SAT
or state standards tests. (I'm not holding my breath.)
http://www.av8n.com/physics/ca-test-questions.htm

Also: There's more to life than exams. It would be nice to have a collection
of exercises that explicitly cultivate critical-thinking skills.

Here's an attempt to address some related issues:
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/atoz/article_924478.php

"The Science of Superheroes." It's one of the school's freshman seminars – classes that UCI says
"introduce students to the culture of the research university."

Physicist Michael Dennin, who will teach "Superheroes" starting next month, is
using pop culture in a broad and clever way to get students to think critically.
....
The source material for the course is "The Science of Superheroes," by Lois Gersh and Robert
Weinberg, a paperback that asks the reader to think logically about the super and supernatural.

Let's check back at the end of the semester to see how this worked out.
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