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Re: What Flows?



I don't think anyone has suggested deliberately lying to students (at
least, I hope not). My reading of this discussion has been more in
terms of a recognition that a simple assertion of a fact without a
context within which the student can see that it is a necessary one.
In other words, a student learns primarily (if not exclusively) by
discovering that his/her current conceptions have failed in analyzing
the current problem and then trying to replace them with more precise
and useful conceptions. This is in fact exactly the thrust of the
example you have given in which a hypothetical student confronts an
inconsistency between two colloquially held ideas. THEN you have an
opportunity to teach but before that confrontation occurs, most of
the time you do not. It goes in one ear and out the other as you
haven't got any phenomenon for your words to latch onto in the
student's mind.


We will certainly not advance them toward the goal of enlightenment by
telling them what is untrue or misleading or useless.

A good example: If hot air rises, why is the atmospheric temperature
gradient usually negative? Shouldn't the equilibrium condition of the
atmosphere be one in which the warm air overlies the cool? Most people
know that "hot air rises" and most people also know "it's cooler in
the mountains". You as a physics teacher have the obligation to point
out to them that this is a paradoxical situation, and as a physics
teacher you ought to be able to take the best student to a higher level
of understanding. You won't help things by gratuitously perpetuating
physical falsehoods.
Leigh


Paul J. Camp "The Beauty of the Universe
Assistant Professor of Physics consists not only of unity
Coastal Carolina University in variety but also of
Conway, SC 29528 variety in unity.
pjcamp@csd1.coastal.edu --Umberto Eco
pjcamp@postoffice.worldnet.att.net The Name of the Rose
(803)349-2227
fax: (803)349-2926