Re: [Phys-l] Premed Requirements Commentary

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 09/19/2006 12:32 PM, jbellina wrote:
> ... the interesting part was that for the most part the students who  
> thought it was important had not taken physics in college and those  
> who didn't think it was important had.

Wow, that *is* interesting.

I've been racking my brains, but I'm not sure what to make of it.
It seems open to multiple interpretations:

 -- One flattering interpretation is that the "takers" had learned
  useful skills "by osmosis";  they retained the skills but didn't
  remember /where/ they learned them.

 -- One unflattering interpretation is that the course didn't live
  up to its billing.  The non-takers responded on the basis of the
  course /description/, while the takers responded on the basis of
  the actual course.

We need more information before we can correctly interpret that
statement ... but it seems well worth looking into.