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Re: terminology: period vs. wavelength



I don't completely disagree with those who are willing to accept
unconventional answers. And I agree that "period" can have multiple
meanings. But I am still more in tune with Tim Folkerts and my original
statement about the situation. The context of my question was not only the
exam itself, but all of the lectures, problem sets, textbook, labs up to
that point. None of these ever used period as anything other than a time
period. The students who answered period when I was expecting wavelength
were not being clever or astute; rather they were being careless and/or
hadn't been paying attention during virtually all aspects of the course.
Frankly, it makes me angry when a student doesn't study or otherwise doesn't
learn the material, screws up on an exam, than suddenly becomes very
academic about the meaning of words and tries to get credit on a
technicality. The time to be academic was before the test, not after it.

The point of language is communication. Part of learning how to use
language is to learn common meanings. When we discuss harmonic motion I
would still maintain that the most common definition of period is a time
period. If that is true, I do not think it is wrong to expect students to
learn it that way. Indeed, I think it is my job to teach it that way. I am
willing to take a few minutes to explain that not all people use the word
that way, and since talking to the math profs I actually say that period in
math might mean something different than the way I use it when discussing
harmonic motion. But having said that, I don't think there is anything
wrong, and I think it is actually proper, for me to tell the class that in
the context of harmonic motion they ought to assume period means time period
unless there is evidence to the contrary.

Isn't this part of our jobs as teachers, that is, to teach common
understanding and usage?


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