Could all of this discussion have something to do with the famous "five
levels" of learning development that we have been bludgeoned with for the
past 20 years? As I recall (and I never paid too close attention, I must
confess) students do not achieve the highest level of abstract thought until
they have reached a certain physical and intellectual maturity==some of them
never reach it at all. A large proportion of HS students are simply not
ready for abstract ideas.
M.J. Clarke, OSB
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From: bhunt
To: phys-l
Subject: The Soapbox
Date: Friday, April 19, 1996 8:58AM
Maybe, the best and the brightest high school students learn very well,
but maybe the low A's and the B's and below are just not getting what it
takes to retain physics. Not because the teaching is poor, because I think
it is generally very good, but simply their environment is unsuitable for
them to learn.
Bob Hunt
Johnson County Community College
Overland Park, Kansas