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

[Marty Weiss <martweiss@comcast.net>]

Glad you mentioned that, Paul, about the "aha" moments of doing the math.  It's an interesting thing to watch a student who professes to be very weak in math (the usual opening day statement is, "I can't do math.") and after some effort they find they can actually read a physics problem and figure out how to attack it, then go ahead and solve it.  There is a look like, "WOW! I actually did this."  Once that barrier is overcome I find their whole attitude changes, often overnight.    It takes a lot of effort, but that's why I teach there.  
  
On Jul 12, 2013, at 9:58 AM, Paul Nord wrote:

> Anthony,
>
> I like the sentiment.
>
> How far are you able to push them to do quantitative analysis?  Conceptual physics is a good start.  There are some really good "aha!" moments to be found in the process of crunching the numbers.
>
> Paul
>
>
> On Jul 12, 2013, at 8:40 AM, "Anthony Lapinski" <Anthony_Lapinski@pds.org> wrote:
>
> > To me, fun means fun! My kids can do more "serious" physics in college.
> >
> > Doing demos and labs -- rolling cars down tracks, dropping balls, shooting
> > dart guns, hitting softballs, riding skateboards, spinning stoppers,
> > investigating charged balloons, etc. These are the many fun days in my
> > classes, and what I have been talking about. Fun!
> >
> > I also have those "aha" moments in class when kids "get it." Still,
> > physics (especially concepts) is challenging for most of my students, even
> > the brightest ones.
>
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