Re: Computers in the lab. /diatribe/

[Jack Uretsky <jlu@HEP.ANL.GOV>]

        You raise an interesting question: how do you know when you are
successful in getting students to " 'see' the motion represented by
distance and velocity graphs"?
        I agree with your objection to bad metaphors, by the way.
                                Regards,
                                        Jack

Adam was by constitution and proclivity a scientist; I was the same, and
we loved to call ourselves by that great name...Our first memorable
scientific discovery was the law that water and like fluids run downhill,
not up.
                          Mark Twain, <Extract from Eve's Autobiography>

On Mon, 4 Sep 2000, Dave Hamilton wrote:

> In my 11th-12th grade physics classes, I first have my students use the 60Hz
> recording timers (with carbon paper circles and paper tape) to study motion.
> After we have been through that process, I feel comfortable having them use
> Vernier motion sensors because we can relate what the sensors are doing for
> us back to the things we did with the paper tape.
>
> In my 9th grade, low-skills physical science classes, we use the motion
> sensors with just a brief explanation of how they work (one that I believe
> most students do not care about or understand).  I know I'll draw ire (and
> fire) from some, but I defend my practice because I am more interested in
> the students' ability to "see" the motion represented by distance and
> velocity graph than in their understanding of how the data are collected.
> _________________________________snip___________________________________