Re: [Phys-l] Academic Familiarity Breeds Discomfort? (was Physicsjob...)

["John Clement" <clement@hal-pc.org>]

Ah, but is it inevitable that attitudes toward a subject necessarily goes
down with familiarity.  I have found that all subjects can be interesting.
Also, the methods of research are extremely similar across all fields, so a
specialist in one field can cross over if they acquire the specialized
knowledge necessary to understand another field.

I have consistently proposed that the reason why attitudes go down in
science and math is because of the way in which both are taught.  They are
both taught as a series of disconnected facts, just one damn thing after
another.  And of course history can be very similarly taught.

A coherent approach such a modeling, workshop physics... which also provide
the students with the necessary tools for understanding, and make the
students do the thinking can improve attitudes as measured by the MPEX.

The problem of poor teaching is not unique to science.  Math, history... all
suffer from similar problems.  Here I would categorize the IE methods as
good teaching, but with time may develop into superb teaching.  Conventional
lecture methods well done would be poor to fair, and less than that
dreadful.

Unfortunately there is also the problem that many teachers do dreadful
teaching in science because they don't understand basics such a Newton's
laws.  This is particularly true in elementary and middle schools.  Also
they tend to be dogmatic and fact laden in their approaches rather than
exposing students to the idea that one can do simple experiments to figure
out things.

One particular question stands out in the 9th grade IPC course at a school
in Texas.  They asked "which is the action force, the boy pushing on the
boat or the boat pushing on the boy".  The teachers who bought into this
question treated me like dirt.

Then of course there are the perennial rituals engaged in by elementary
schools which idolize the Pilgrims and their first thanksgiving.  The
Pilgrims engaged in the slaughter of Native Americans, and their colony
failed to grow much so it was eventually absorbed by the Mass. Bay colony.
Of course it has now become almost a religious rite, but perhaps injecting
some realism into the holiday would help historical accuracy.  The point
here is that the history books are not only fact laden, but often
inaccurate, and the teachers are often unaware of this.  Actually the
Pilgims observance was probably more religious than celebratory.
Thanksgiving is just an extension of ancient harvest festivals, and was
observed in other colonies prior to the Pilgrims.

So again, is it academic familiarity, or poor pedagogy?  Is it the
dissonance between received knowledge, and prior conceptions that causes
disbelief and the lowering of attitudes?

John M. Clement
Houston, TX


> > > It is research which shows that student attitudes towards science
> become
> > > poorer with each science course taken.
> >
> > I just can't figure out what the surprise is here.
> >  After every history class I took I disliked history more.
> > The interesting question would be to compare the effect in science
> > with other disciplines.
> >
> > Do kids like math more and more as they take more math courses? I
> > don't think so.
> >  Art? I notice that all kids like to color, but when they find out that
> they
> > have to stay within the lines, some start to find other interests.
>
> /and so on.../
>
> This felt uncomfortably like the cold hard slap across the face
> of reality.   I comfort myself with the personal insight that
>   there ARE topics, for which enthusiasm increases, as one
>   gets into them....