Stu Leinoff is correct that "avenues of communication broke down." I am not
proud that I told my teacher he didn't know what he was doing. But heck, I
was only 17 years old. My teacher was 40-ish, was a coach, might not have
ever had a real physics course in college, and was hired by other mature
adults who should have known better. The "breakdown of communication" did
not occur as a result of this incident alone. I would guess that 20 to 30%
of the physics he told us was wrong. But that only means he told us wrong
stuff about 10-15% of the time, because he only talked physics about half
the time. The other half the time we talked about the most recent football
game, or upcoming game. Then we switched to basketball. You get the
picture.
I don't think Stu is giving more analysis than the situation merits. This
discussion started about the preparation of physics teachers. My example
was intended to point out how bad it can get when the preparation is so poor
that bright kids in the class are aware of all the errors the teacher makes.
I certainly don't expect the teacher to be perfect. If I expected that, I
would have to quit teaching. I've made my share of blunders. But my
high-school physics class was downright terrible. It really upset me
because I wanted to be a physicist or an engineer, and I knew I needed to
learn the stuff, and I wanted to learn the stuff. I not only had to learn
it on my own, I had to listen to someone try to half-heartedly bumble his
way through it. By the time we had the "breakdown of communication" I was
totally frustrated.
I have had some debates (arguments?) with my students in which the students
thought I was saying something wrong. In general our communication does not
break down because if we aren't getting anywhere I suggest that we both work
on it some more and pick up the discussion again tomorrow. Then I indeed
work on it to make sure I am viewing it correctly. Over 20 years ago when I
first started teaching, it wasn't easy to go to class the next day and
say... "Hey look, I told you some wrong stuff yesterday. Here's how it's
supposed to go." But once you do it a few times, it gets easier... and by
golly those times turn into really good teaching moments.
Perhaps the best physics lesson I learned from my HS teacher was the need to
make sure I would never be like him. First, I will try to be prepared.
Second, if challenged, I will do the research to see if I might be wrong.
If I am, I admit it. If I am not, I look for ways to make it more clear to
the student. Finally, I am in a position where I can attempt to make sure I
don't send out poorly prepared teachers. As I said in another posting,
making students jump through hurdles doesn't guarantee they will be good
teachers, but I'll keep making them jump and I'll keep adjusting the hurdles
in an attempt to make sure they are reasonably competent when they enter the
classroom.
* * *
I cannot comment on HO trains because I never had those. I had larger-scale
American Flyer (two-rail track) and Lionel (three-rail track), and in the
50s/60s these had AC motors. Rectifiers and DC motors were certainly
available in the 50s/60s. Any other old-time model-railroad people out
there? What do you remember? Could you flip a switch on the power supply
to reverse the train, or did you have to pulse the power to reset the
latching relay?
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817