Re: [Phys-l] Should equation solving be done with calculators and robots or by hand?

[MJ and DS Weiss <martweiss@earthlink.net>]

My son graduated from a major research university with a degree in 
chemistry and used the same TI35 (ordinary non-graphing calculator) that 
he used throughout high school.  He still has that calculator to this 
day on the job as a R&D chemist for a small plastics company, although 
nowadays everything is computerized and he seldom makes use of the 
calculator any longer.    TI 83's and so-on didn't even exist when we 
bought him the TI 35 back in the late 80's, and he never saw the need to 
buy one throughout his university years.    

In my present day classes I am able to teach everything the students 
need to know with a bunch of TI-30's for loan which is quite often 
because they really don't know how to use the TI 83-s the math teacher 
told them to buy.   Theyr muddle through all the problems with the 
graphing calculators and only one or two kids actually know how to 
generate a decent graph or use the advanced functions.  The TI 30 serves 
very well for physics and chemistry and they learned how to draw a graph 
on real graph paper and what the graph means.  I think it means so much 
more to them because they drew it themselves and didn't simply plug and 
chug and watch a calculator churn out a line on a tiny screen.  There 
will be time enough to use the computers in university for the science 
majors.  For the non-science majors this is good practice as to what the 
lines and curves actually mean and how to generate them with real points 
plotted on a piece of paper.


Marty

Rauber, Joel wrote:

> Some interesting questions.  IMO there is a lot useful mental exercise and useful practice in methodical problem solving skills in going through the algebra which you don't get by just setting up the equations in the typical "toy" problems one uses to learn the material in high school or introductory courses.
>  I'm not sure where the answer lies, but I suspect that the product of what would come out of a curriculum where the "robot" does all the math won't be a skilled problem solver, but rather a person who gives up when problems get frustrating.
> I'm quite glad my 1st grade daughter isn't being taught arithmetic on a calculator for example.  I don't think it would be a disaster if students weren't allowed to touch calculators until high school; and even then only under adult supervision.  :-)
> I've noticed the math department at our university is beginning to be less enamored with graphing calculators and using them for teaching the algebra and calculus classes.  I think this is happening for a reason.  If you think that the math classes and the physics classes should be reinforcing each other (I do) then I'd say its a mistake.  (Not to mention the Chemistry and the Biology and English classes).
>
>
> ________________________ 
> Joel Rauber 
> Department of Physics - SDSU 
> Joel.Rauber@sdstate.edu 
> 605-688-4293 
>
> | 
> | I just wrote up an answer to this question --
> | 
> | http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080227052243AApa
> SBY&r=w&pa=FZp
> | tHWf.BGRX3OFPgTBUUvaAziwCsCO3J5d1XhUX2FUOdKpQAWm6wEXZOmzOKSai1
> | ioicVtdpd3Rvx4
> | g6g--&paid=answered#Q8d6XzK5WGHv4DVMd7PvPZwaHC6vBaCfSXHKUM2Ota
> | BcaVx3oQBF
> | 
> | ³Charged Partical and Magnetic Field?
> | In Figure below, a charged particle moves into a region of 
> | uniform magnetic field , goes through half a circle, and then 
> | exits that region. The particle is either a proton or an 
> | electron (you must decide which). It spends 143 ns in the 
> | region. (a) What is the magnitude of ? (b) If the particle is 
> | sent back through the magnetic field (along the same initial 
> | path) but with 3.72 times its previous kinetic energy, how 
> | much time does it spend in the field during this trip?²
> | 
> | QuickMath can easily solve the following set of simple 
> | equations that come directly from physics fundamentals --
> | 
> | q=1.602*10^(-19)
> | m=1.673*10^(-27)
> | F=q*v*B
> | F=m*v^2/r
> | v*143*10^(-9)=pi*r
> | 
> | Isn¹t it better to eliminate the algebra from this point on 
> | and just let the robot do the work?  Or is there a reason to 
> | solve these equations by hand (other than ³the student won¹t 
> | always be at a computer² or ³QuickMath is down again², etc.)?
> | 
> | 
> | For a long time I¹ve been curious why I haven¹t seen 
> | textbooks with an appendix on calculator use.  Are there any 
> | out there?  Many students I encounter don¹t even take 
> | advantage of simple features like memories to save retyping. 
> | But they all seem to have very elaborate calculators in hand. 
> | A few years back I worked with a class where all the students 
> | had TI89¹s that were required in their math courses.  We 
> | worked on using the simultaneous equation solvers in those 
> | with some success (and also some frustration with typos and 
> | omitted parentheses and commas and the like). I¹ll admit 
> | there are Œtechnoglitches¹ to deal with.
> | 
> | I¹m interested in opinions on either side of this issue.
> | 
> | Steve Highland
> | Duluth MN
> | _______________________________________________
> | Forum for Physics Educators
> | Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
> | https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l
> | 
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