[Phys-L] reasoning strategy +- frustration

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 07/12/2013 07:02 AM, Dan L. MacIsaac wrote:
> My question would be more generally -- what roles do student frustration and 
> struggle play with learning physics?  And how can we appropriately foster
> and support appropriate levels of student frustration?

A useful analysis of this question was provided by the famous 
philosopher Rogers:

	You got to know when to hold 'em,
	know when to fold 'em,
	Know when to walk away, 
	know when to run.

My point here is that there are different kinds of "frustration".
Many reasoning tasks are isomorphic to searching a maze, in that
one spends a goodly amount of time exploring blind alleys.  It is
crucial to recognize a blind alley as such -- sooner or later, 
preferably sooner -- and to know how to back out of it.  To say 
the same thing another way:  One must distinguish the overall goal 
from lesser sub-goals.  Very often it is necessary to give up on 
this-or-that sub-goal in order to achieve the desired overall goal.

So, I would define a notion of small-scale frustration, by which
I mean exploring part of the maze only to discover that it is a
blind alley.  This is 100% necessary.  It is a good thing.  Any 
decent maze-running strategy depends on it.

I would contrast that with large-scale anger and frustration, by
which I mean inability to obtain the main overall goal.  This is
a bad thing.

In more detail:
 -- It is a mistake to give up too soon.
 -- It is a mistake to give up too late.
 ++ It is hard to know which is which;  it is infinitely sensitive
  to what cards you hold, and to the overall situation.

There is a treeeemendous amount of bad advice available on this
topic.  All-too-many teachers tell students "never give up" when
in fact knowing when to give up, and how to give up on a sub-goal
is a necessary part of the game.