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Re: How much is too much?



The question is unanswerable because it is underspecified.><<<

Sorry. Thought it was pretty specificish

In particular:
1-2 homework assignments of about 10 problems
A) Is it 1 or is it 2? Factors of two are significant.<<

I meant about 1-2 homework assignments a week. I am leaning towards 1 per chapter.

B) Even more importantly, it depends on what the 10
problems are like. It is trivial to come up with
10 problems, each of which will take an entire day
to solve, even for someone who understands the material.
The trick is to come up with 10 problems that students
can solve in a reasonable amount of time if (and only
if) they understand the material.<<

Yes that would be the trick. My goal is to have problems that would take them 20-30 minutes. I think. Basically problems that I can do in 5 minutes or so.


It is crucial to find out where the students are coming
from, and where they are going to .... i.e. why they
are taking the course and what they want to get out of
it. Are these physics majors? Engineering majors? Do
they want to get jobs in the biotech sector? Are they
planning on careers in the fast-food industry?<<

Most of my students will be transfer students in Engineering to Iowa State. Some want to get jobs at in bio fields. But most want to be engineers. I think I have a chem major this semester.

I am assigning more tasks involving writing because most of my students can't write something techinical very well. My engineer friends are always telling me about all the writing they do so I am trying to get my students used to being able to express themselves orally and in writing.

Tina


Tina Fanetti
Physics Instructor
Western Iowa Technical Community College
4647 Stone Ave
Sioux City IA 51102
712-274-8733 ext 1429