Re: [Phys-l] Student engagement--GAIN

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

Unfortunately for the students physics is often a gateway course to other
fields.  And students may actually do better in those other fields such as
biology.  So we should make it possible for students who are going into
other fields to have the visualization tools needed for greater success.
Then of course there are the students in physics for poets classes.  I
actually got them doing differentiation graphically at Duke U. many years
ago.

Incidentally Newton apparently did not use algebra because it made getting
answers easy without using insight.  Actually there are some problems which
are very difficult using equations, and are much easier using either graphs
or motion maps.  This type of problem promotes mistakes in algebra, but the
students always get a correct answer using alternate methods.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX
> Eventually? I remember being in college freshman physics back in '61 and
> encountering velocity-time graphs for the very first time. About 15-20
> minutes of straightforward thinking resulted in a sound understanding of
> the concept of acceleration (I am a pack-rat and still have my freshman
> homework). After that, the formulas provided a much simpler and quicker
> way of understanding the dynamics. If someone has to be taught how to
> think their way through position-time and velocity-time graphs they are
> wasting their time in a physics course.