Re: Problem solving or playtime?

["George Spagna Jr." <gspagna@rmc.edu>]

On Fri, 12 Apr 1996 09:40:43 -0400 (ED, Bob Muir wrote:


> On the other hand the students who come to my classes have exceptionally 
> poor problem solving skills.  In some cases, they do want to plug and 
> chug because they think that is how problems are solved.  Others don't 
> use that approach, but do not know how to READ a problem to identify what 
> it is about, to properly interpret the scenario, to properly interpret 
> the information given (numeric or verbal), and to correctly interpret the 
> question asked, i.e., when I have solved the problem what is it that I 
> have calculated?

I guess what I'm suggesting is a "golden mean"  -  the interpretation of 
the calculated answer requires a stronger conceptual base than what is 
required to duplicate the "numbers in the back of the book".

> We expect students in other fields or activities to PRACTICE (e.g., 
> music, art, athletics, writing, etc.).  Why shouldn't we expect physics 
> students to practice on tasks which sharpen the skills needed to solve 
> problems in an appropriate way?  The music student practices and 
> interacts with the instructor for feedback.  Presumably, the good music 
> teacher goes beyond rote practice to include interpretation.  So should 
> the practice of physics problem solving not be done in a robotic, 
> isolated situation.
Absolutely.  I'm not calling for the abandonment of problems, but rather 
the abandonment of learning physics _only_ from the text and the problems.  
Recall that the original question on this thread had to do with a teacher 
who was told to spend less time with the textbook and more time doing other 
things.
--                          
George Spagna               ******************************************
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