Re: [Phys-L] Thermal Physics solution manual

[JIM G <physgoff@yahoo.com>]

Regarding the use of solution manuals vs grading homework, etc. I am a retired "lurker" in Phys-L. I taught for many year s at a large multi-Campus community college in Tucson AZ. Many years ago we needed to move to larger class sizes simply to have rooms to run classes. It became obvious to me that although I wanted to get students to do the homework, there was no way I could in fact grade such homework. I decided on a simple experiment with (to me ) surprising results. I announced in my syllabus that Homework would be collected on particular "due dates" published at the beginning of the semester. Homework would not be graded but would be marked for completeness and handed back. a small amount of credit was given for homework handed in on time (ie before the  exams). I placed copies of my solutions to the homework on reserve in the library. students could just copy those solutions if they chose. Now the experiment. At the end of the semester I plotted for each student the percentage of homework handed in on time vs the overall exam and quiz percentage. to my great surprise I discovered at strong correlation, a 45 degree line across the graph with some clumping at the upper end. I could have assigned nearly all the grades based solely on percent of homework (ungraded) handed in on time and forgotten about grading exams and quizzes!. The library told me later that my solutions were consistently among the most heavily used items on reserve. I continued to use this system for the remainder of my teaching career. JIM GOFF physgoff@yahoo.com 


    On Tuesday, December 8, 2015 12:33 PM, Dan Beeker <debeeker@comcast.net> wrote:
 

 Being a self motivated learner who is generally slower at learning than most others definitely option #2. Put it in the public domain. If one is trying to learn without the benefit of an instructor or classroom setting the solutions will be invaluable. It is invaluable even if one has an instructor and peer support. Even with the solution set (not just answers) mastering the material is still not easy. It is just one more tool. There is much to be learned from looking at problems related to a particular topic. The author’s problem sets are often much superior to a Shaun’s outline (if it exists at all). That’s not to say everything is forthcoming and enlightenment comes with a solutions manual but having such does provide one more resource and gives a minimal check that one has mastered the material if the same or similar answer is obtained.

I can recall many years ago having to teach a course in thermodynamics to a group of first year engineering students. Though there was much I did not understand we got through it. I could not have done it without a solutions manual, nor would my students have survived it. Even with the solutions we would still be confused and would spend hours trying to figure out why the author did the solution in a particular way. There was a lot of learning, albeit not very efficient learning, going on. In this day and age the answers are generally available on what used to be Cramster (a pay site) and many other sites. Why not make them publicly available and as others have said, level the playing field?

Dan



> Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2015 17:34:41 -0700
> From: "Daniel V. Schroeder" <dschroeder@weber.edu>
> To: "phys-l@phys-l.org" <phys-l@phys-l.org>
> Subject: [Phys-L] Thermal Physics solution manual
> Message-ID: <DBC8DE04-22A1-4F8A-83CB-CA05C39584BF@weber.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> The Instructors' Solution Manual for my textbook, An Introduction to Thermal Physics, is now out of print.  The publisher, Pearson, is not interested in reprinting it, but they have offered to post it online as a pdf that instructors could download after logging on with a password.  However, there are other options.  As I see it, the choices are as follows:
>
> 1.  Post the pdf on the Pearson web site, protected by a password so only instructors can download it.
>
> 2.  Release the manual from copyright and let anyone distribute it freely.  I would then post it on my own web site, and it would become a students' solution manual.
>
> 3.  Stop distributing the manual but keep it under copyright, so it would become less available and the only legal copies would be those that have already been distributed.
>
> 4.  Some combination of the above.  For example, a subset of solutions could be released from copyright for distribution to students, while others could be provided only to instructors or not at all.
>
> I'm writing to solicit your input on this decision.  Personally, I am torn.  Part of me wishes I had never written a solution manual, because its mere existence conveys the message that solutions are things that are handed down by authority (the textbook author) rather than things you should figure out for yourself and think about critically.  On the other hand, many instructors seem to depend on the solution manual, especially when they are pressed for time.
>
> Of course I am aware of the fact that scanned copies of the solution manual are already being distributed among students, illegally, on the internet.  My impression is that Pearson's legal department can make illegal downloading less convenient, but cannot stop it entirely.  If we release a high-quality pdf of the manual, then its distribution in electronic form will become somewhat more convenient.
>
> What should we do?
>
> Dan Schroeder
> Weber State University

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