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Re: force




Well, I for one would like my preengineering students to get far enough
so that they would design a walkway for the Hyatt Regancy hotel that
didn't fall down when people stood on it.


Do we produce better and more successful engineering students and
consequently engineers using an approach such as Workshop Physics? This
is a question that has never been answered. If the answer is to teach a
few concepts very well then I think Workshop Physics is excellent.
However, does it produce better physicists and engineers is a question
that has remained unanswered. This data I've never seen presented at the
AAPT meetings.

Roger


A good argument. But one could also argue that the production of good
engineers is the responsibility of the Engineering School and that we
should concentrate more on giving them a good conceptual foundation
in physics. Make sure they understand the basics so they don't
misapply them later and let the engineers teach the engineers how to
calculate. They should find that job greased pretty well if their
students don't come into dynamics thinking that acceleration is
velocity.

I have a difficult enough time allowing sufficient leisure to do the
physics without having to cover engineering for the engineers,
biophysics for the premeds, hydrodynamics for the marine scientists
and statistical mechanics for the chemists.

I dunno. What to cover is probably an argument that will never be
resolved. But lately I've begun worrying more about how they think
than what they think about.

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@coastal.edu --Umberto Eco
pjcamp@postoffice.worldnet.att.net The Name of the Rose
(803)349-2227
fax: (803)349-2926