Re: [Phys-l] WHY VALUE ADDED TESTING IS A BUST.

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

Yes, Dan's explanation was good, but PCK goes beyond what Dan said.  The
teacher needs to be aware of what goes on in reconsolidation, and how to use
it.  They need to be aware of deficits in student thinking ala Reuven
Feuerstein, and what they might possibly do to help remediate them.  It is
not just about pushing the subject matter, but also about laying the
possibility of future learning.  Students have specific deficits such as
lack of proportional reasoning which needs to be remediated.

One important part of PCK is bridging so the students do not particularize
the learning in the class.  Students should transfer to subsequent classes
and to other related classes.  This part of the learning equation has not
been well attacked in most courses.

An example of one thing the instructor needs to be aware of is how memory is
not an exact picture (or sound recording) of what went on.  The fact that it
is just a schema for the event, and the details are all filled in as
reasonable reconstructions.  Memories are also changed according to what the
student originally believed, and most often they end up being the belief
rather than what they heard or saw.  I have heard so many instructors say,
but I told them.  My reply is, they didn't believe it, so it ended being
changed.

So PCK has levels of competence, and sadly most instructors are at the
bottom in the US.  Even most Oriental instructors, although higher, are
probably not high enough.  Some Oriental countries have realized that their
students are coming out as very rigid experts who can't think outside the
bos.  US students by comparison are usually better at thinking outside the
box and being innovative.  So these countries are considering changing to a
more American style system.  Hopefully they will change to American research
based teaching.  So again the auto story will be repeated.  We will export
our expertise and fail to use it ourselves.

I would say knowing what you are up against is only half of the equation.
Knowing what to do about it, and believing it, is the other half.  Finally
having the will to do the necessary things is in a way the other half.  Many
instructors have been told what to do, but by inertia just continue with the
same things.  There must come a time when you consciously say to yourself,
no I won't do what I am tempted to, and instead give students a good
activity to help them rather than a lecture.  But the well placed
minilecture can still be helpful, but it has to be carefully done.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX

> Excellent comments from Dan.
> 	PCK is knowing what you're up against.
> 	(Not 'just' what you must teach - but how you might go about it?)
>
>
> > >
> > Ok, I'll bite (and I'm thinking about this now).  Consider the
> > prototypical first year calc based mech course and Newton's third
> > law:
> >
> > subject knowledge could be say knowing the basic correct physics
> > (concepts, representations, problem solving skills) underlying
> > Newton's Third Law (N3) at an appropriate level adequate for
> > teaching first year.
> >
> > PCK for N3 would be knowing about teaching and learning N3, like
> > knowing about typical student prior knowledge, typical student
> > interpretations and struggles, helpful strategies for teaching N3
> > (use of bathroom scales and force probes; wall flexing demos); good
> > elicitation and discourse questions regarding N3, appropriate
> > notations and representations that maximize student learning of N3
> > (verbal language exemplars and control, correct FBDs possibly using
> > different arrows to represent forces and velocities; object-agent
> > notations; portray forces as relationships) etc.  Knowing how to lay
> > groundwork for later reuse and expansion in the mechanics course and
> > beyond (spring and ball model for later E&M, solids, thermodynamics;
> > notations).
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