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Re: terminology: period vs. wavelength



 
On Mon, 02 Jul 2001 11:26:57 -0400 Michael Edmiston <edmiston@BLUFFTON.EDU> writes:
>.....................   And I agree that "period" can have  multiple
> meanings.    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. ..........
>
 
Michael had made some excellent points and I am sure that most of us
would agree with him in all respects. I remember having the same attitude
when I first started teaching physics but, after a few years I learned  from a
gret physics teacher, Noah Rosenhouse,  that student learning can be GREATLY
enhanced by a little giving on the part of the teacher.
 
Whenever students would seek credit for unanticipated answers
to test  questions,  Noah would ask the students to  justify their answers
in writing together with a bibliography of the source materials that they
consulted. Students who did so had their test grades raised by several points.
The few extra points that the students were given counted for very little, if any,
increase in their final grades. However the extra learning that the students
gained when preparing their reports, made a great difference in their
understanding of Physics.
 
Herb Gottlieb from New York City
(Where reevaluating a test score can sometimes provide a great motivation for learning)