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Re: Today's jaw dropper



David Dockstader says:

I would suggest that one of the most important characteristics of a good
teacher is enthusiam for the subject. Bright or dull the student needs to
want to learn. If a teacher can get the student to want to learn badly
enough the battle is all but won. A teacher who is having a blast doing
physics, and who can convey this to the students, has from my experience
a better than average chance of succeeding. A student who wants to learn
can overcome most shortcommings in a teacher or a school. A student who
doesn't want to learn won't.

I'm wondering would a teacher who is enthusiastic about requiring students
to drill at memorizing nonsense syllables result in students who want to
learn nonsense syllables?

I agree that getting the student to engage in making sense is the key, but
it strikes me that teacher enthusiasm is but a part of this and maybe more
a consequence than a fundamental ingredient.

Dewey

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Dewey I. Dykstra, Jr. Phone: (208)385-3105
Professor of Physics Dept: (208)385-3775
Department of Physics/MCF421/418 Fax: (208)385-4330
Boise State University dykstrad@bsumail.idbsu.edu
1910 University Drive Boise Highlanders
Boise, ID 83725-1570 novice piper

"Physical concepts are the free creations of the human mind and
are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external
world."--A. Einstein in The Evolution of Physics with L. Infeld,
1938
"Don't mistake your watermelon for the universe." --K. Amdahl in
There Are No Electrons, 1991.
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