Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: [Phys-l] base knowledge erosion



Since we're all relating our favorite stories:

(a) Many of my students believe we live inside the earth.

(b) Our valedictorian a coupla years ago didn't know that the moon revolves around the earth and was angry that I wrote a problem that assumed that knowledge.

(c) Another 4.0 GPA student thought the earth was "bowl-shaped" so we wouldn't fall off.

I have a huge number of these anecdotes. It's always interesting to find out what students REALLY think about the world around them, and it's hard to find out.

Wes



-----Original Message-----
From: "Monce, Michael N." <mnmon@conncoll.edu>
Sent: Feb 27, 2006 8:16 AM
To: Forum for Physics Educators <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu>
Subject: [Phys-l] base knowledge erosion

A bit of a vent: I'm teaching astronomy for the first time in about 15 years ans suddenly have become aware of a serious depletion of general knowledge that certainly wasn't there when I last taught the course.

I recently gave an exam that had a problem on geosynchronous satellite. To solve the problem the student should obviously know the rotation rate of the earth. Well, I now know that 5 students out of a class of 24 had no idea that 1) the earth rotates, and 2) that the rotation rate is 24 hours. i.e. they had no idea what causes day and night. Is it really that bad out there???


Mike Monce
Connecticut College