| Chronology | Current Month | Current Thread | Current Date |
| [Year List] [Month List (current year)] | [Date Index] [Thread Index] | [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] | [Date Prev] [Date Next] |
These are problems for INTRO Physics students who need to be able to crawl before wallking, walk before running. True 'real world' problems are the ultimate goal, but the Heller problems are, IMO, a clear step up from back of book problems. Extraneous information, more complex setups, more info that must be inferred are part of this set. They do help with the 'walking stage' of development and students find them much more challenging than the book problems. The only 'baloney' is coming from somewhere else. ;-)
Don't get me wrong:
I emphasize that actual real-world problems do exist. Actual
rich-context problems do exist. These are important. Schools
need to do a much better job teaching students how to handle
rich-context problems. This includes dealing with overspecified
and underspecified problems. It includes applying facts that
they know about the real world.
The given examples are called rich-context problems ... but
they are nothing of the sort. They are a load of baloney.
They are an embarrassment.
_______________________________________________