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Re: (dv/dt) terminology: opportunity for improvement




I agree this is confusing, but I am not in favor of new words. Students
who want to understand this can certainly do so. The ones who never
figure it out typically never get other physics concepts figured out
either.

This post reveals a misconception that students figure out the concepts
because they want to, and if they want to they can do it. Certainly they
won't if they don't want to, but in reality many who want to figure out
concepts fail to do so. This can be for a variety of reasons. One of them
is that their scientific thinking skills are low. Another is that they do
not have the background to be able to make sense of the material. Finally
the lack of interactive engagement can prevent them from engaging with the
concepts in a fashion that makes understanding possible.

A good paper on this subject is
http://umperg.physics.umass.edu/gemsFolder/umperg2/CBPSP.pdf The first page
has a very good drawing based on ideas of Alan Van Heuvelin, with a
realistic view of current educational practices.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX

This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.