Re: [Phys-l] thinking skills (and how to teach thinking skills)

[jbellina <jbellina@saintmarys.edu>]

Herb,
Since it was my statement originally, perhaps I should try to expand  
on it.

What I meant by leaving in a research environment  was learning new  
science at the leading edge, or close to it, of what is known.  The  
sort of thing done in a science research environment, where
- one doesn't know the answer but may have some ideas about it,  
sometimes well formed, sometimes not,
-often may not be sure that the measurement is telling you what you  
think it is, and
- doesn't know for sure if the theory you are using really fits the  
experimental situation, and
-all of that has to be worked out.

If you change the language of that description a little bit, it  
begins to look like the situation a student is in when learning in  
the classroom.  So the student in the classroom is like the graduate  
student in a research lab.  Granted there are differences in analytic  
skills etc, but relative to their background and skills, they are in  
similar places.  The graduate student learns by guided inquiry...no  
one have the answer to questions, only other questions which might  
lead the grad student to the answer sought.

This is the way scientists learn their new science by a combination  
of induction and deduction some call reduction.  I am suggesting that  
this is the way our students best learn their new science.  But if  
you have never been that grad student, if all your experience has  
been deductive, you may not have a good sense of what learning by  
guided inquiry is.

does that help?

joe

Joseph J. Bellina, Jr. Ph.D.
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556

On May 15, 2006, at 10:00 AM, Herb Gottlieb wrote:

> This is all enlightening and very interesting.
> But seriously, I still do not know what is meant by
> "living in a research environment".  Is it possible
> that I have been living in such an environment without
> being aware of it?
>
> What type of research lives in such an environment?
> Why doesn't "action" live in such an environment?
> Why don't we "know where the action is until we've tested to find  
> out?"
> Besides students, what other "entities" are being tested??
> How does one "go about teaching thinking skills"  ??
> What are the entities being tested besides students?
>
>
> Is it possible to respond in simpler sentences with a bit more
> so myself and others can actually be more effective in
> teaching thinking skills?
>
>
> Herb
>
>
> On Mon, 15 May 2006 08:37:53 -0500 (CDT) Jack Uretsky  
> <jlu@hep.anl.gov>
> writes:
> > Hi all-
> >          Simply put, folks, you don't know where the action is until
> > you've tested to find out.  The entities being teste are not just the
> > students;
> > we have met the testees (no indelicate puns, please) and they are
> > us.
> >                  Regards,
> >                          Jack
> >
> >
> > On Thu, 11 May 2006, Rauber, Joel wrote:
> >
> > > |
> > > |
> > > |  jbellina wrote:
> > > |  Simply put, Herb, the action is in the instruction not in
> > > | the  testing...the idea is to make them active engagers in
> > > | their own  learning.  If you have ever been involved in a
> > > | research environment  then you know for that experience what
> > > | is being talked about.
> > > |  ------------------ --------------- ---------------
> > > |
> > > | Since many others on this list-serve, as well as myself, have
> > > | never "been involved in a research environment" it would be
> > > | helpful to have an explanation that is a bit more detailed.
> > > |
> > > |
> > > | Thanks in advance.
> > > |
> > > | Herb
> > > |
> > > |
> > >
> > > IMO, Herb, you have been in a "research" environment for decades.
> > By
> > > being in the trenches.
> > >
> > > Experience does count.
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Forum for Physics Educators
> > > Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
> > > https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l
> >
> > --
> > "Trust me.  I have a lot of experience at this."
> >                  General Custer's unremembered message to his men,
> >                  just before leading them into the Little Big Horn
> > Valley
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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