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Teaching methods (was "Homework...")



Let me present a friendly, straightforward challenge to opponents of
traditional physics teaching. Although the challenge calls for only
a thought experiment, it may end up being almost as valuable as some
of the educational research being cited in this discussion. No
sarcasm intended. ;-)

Suppose my goal is to take a classroom full of beginning physics
students and have them understand Newton's first law of motion after
one class period of instruction.

I can lecture and do a few demos, or I can use any other
"discovery/engagement" alternative to conventional teaching.

I assert that the "discovery/engagement" approaches won't have a
prayer. Unless I drop some VERY salient, counterintuitive hints
(which amount to lecturing), my students are not going to discover
Newton's 1st law for themselves. Aristotle couldn't do it. Galileo
did it only after months (years?) of contemplation and experiment.

Newton's 1st law is TOUGH. It seems to contradict everyday
experience, and it's IMPOSSIBLE to test in the laboratory because we
can never achieve Fnet = 0.

Isn't most of the interesting stuff in physics quite a bit like this?
Isn't most of physics so counterintuitive to most people that
"discovery" is highly problematic? "Discovery" either takes too much
time or it requires sneaky hints that amount to a reversion to
conventional teaching.

Wanting to understand,

-Tucker
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Tucker Hiatt, Director
Wonderfest
P.O. Box 887
(39 Fernhill Avenue)
Ross, CA 94957
hiattu00@usfca.edu
415-577-1126 (voice)
415-454-2535 (fax)
http://www.wonderfest.org

Truth is a great flirt. - Franz Liszt
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