Re: [Phys-l] "Ask Marilyn"

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

If we paid a little attention to how science is misused in popular journals,
we might have an opportunity to refute some misconceptions.  The camera
question says to me that the person does not understand how vision works.
It is surprising how many students think your eyes are sending out something
to make you see.  The ideas behind geometrical optics are very difficult and
most students do not really understand them.  Considering that most students
do not take physics, they are really not exposed to the ideas.

Of course the best way to increase science and math literacy is to train the
teachers to use methods that work, and to understand these things
themselves.  But we can expose gross misconceptions in popular magazines and
even in encyclopedia.  Actually most print media do not reach many people
and younger people almost not at all.

We don't have to be avid readers of popular lit., but we should monitor it
and be aware of how science is misused.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX

> Never heard of Parade or Marilyn (unless as in 'goodbye Norma Jean'), but
>
> If a person on television held up a mirror facing a camera, could
> someone at home see his reflection in it? -Colorado Springs, Colo.
>
> This one hit home. It always irritates me when someone who is meant
> to be looking at themselves in a mirror (very common in US 70's cop
> shows, I seem to recall, think MacMIllan and Wife type of things,
> e.g. a woman sitting at her dressing table brushing her hair...) is
> actually staring at the reflection of the camera lens so we can see
> what she is meant to see but cannot be seeing - it seems to insult
> the intelligence of the audience...but then again, I guess by this
> question, maybe not.
>
> Keith