Re: [Phys-L] The Make-Believe World of Real-World Physics

[Marty Weiss <martweiss@comcast.net>]

I, too, teach at a small private high school, so similar to your experience I can tailor the curriculum to the abilities of the students.  Most of my students judge their math skills according to who is teaching them in any given year.  Our teacher turnover is very high except for myself in science (13 years) and the English teacher (3 years) and we go through math teachers like pitchers go through baseballs in a major league game.   If a math teacher stays for two years that's phenomenal!  So, the kids say they like math or hate math according to who is teaching the subject that particular year.  One thing that never changes is that when they do math it is straight forward pure math for it's own sake, which many seem to be able to do well enough.  When we do physics problems, however, they find it difficult at first because they have to be able to actually READ the problem, then choose the right equation and apply it properly.  First, they have to be able to read and interpret both English and the math concepts in the problem.  Physics problems are notorious for obscurity; until I teach them how to break the problem down into the various knowns and unknowns, draw the diagram of the problem, and figure out which equation among many to use they are lost.  So, when they express fright in the beginning of the year we spend a lot of time just reading and interpreting what is asked before we actually go ahead and solve the problem.  Free body diagrams are a great help... they love doing these and I find it helps them to visualize what is  being asked.
I find that most books have poor examples and I prefer to alter everything to suit the abilities of the students and then bring them up to speed without undue fright.  

Like Anthony, I try to make the demos and labs fun and exciting so when they come back to do related problems they do not become bored or scared off.  By the way... these are very heterogeneous classes with abilities ranging from minimal math and reading skills all the way to potential MIT students, all in the same class.  Luckily, most everyone will get along and the more advanced kids will help the weaker students along the way.... as long as the weaker kids try their best to follow what is happening it works out well.    

On Jul 12, 2013, at 8:42 AM, Anthony Lapinski wrote:

> I'm at a private school with relatively smart kids. The reality is that
> most kids find physics difficult. This has been my experience. And my
> weaker kids are worse at math and analyzing graphs, slopes, etc. The are
> used to memorizing things in school. Physics is not like that.
>
> Does anyone else have a different view about all of this????????????