Equation hunting instead of concept hunting (was: Loss of KE)

[John Clement <clement@HAL-PC.ORG>]

> 4> This is unfortunate because it leads students to be equation hunters
> > rather than problem solvers.
>
> Huh?
>
> Back in item #2 we agreed that solving the problem
> was not just solved but more-easily solved by using
> the conservation principle.  So how is a principle-user
> not a problem-solver?
>
> Calling them "equation-hunters" was evidently meant
> to be disparaging.  Why?  And why not call them
> principle-hunters?

I don't call them principle hunters because they are usually equation
hunters.  Maybe I should have said the usual treatment of this in the books
leads them to be equation hunters.  However, the usual treatment in books is
supposedly the author's most lucid exposition of how the author thinks.
Unfortunately, the result is that when the author tells the student the way
he thinks, the students become equation hunters.

The previous post to which I replied highlights one of the problems.  The
author expressed puzzlement over the fact that the formalism worked despite
the difference in the microscopic details of the collision.  The author
expressed a bit of disbelief in the physical principles.  Another formal
exposition of the principle is unlikely to dispel this disbelief.

We have to be critically aware that our way of thinking is VERY alien to the
beginning students.  When we think we are presenting principles the students
see equations to be memorized.  When we think we are presenting connections
by showing proofs, the students think we are telling them it is alright to
use the equations.  For proof of the latter assertion see the results of Joe
Redish's MPEX survey.  When we present simple clear physical principles the
students hear incomprehensible gobbledygook.  They have been trained by
years of the lecture method to ignore the fact that they do not understand,
so they dutifully write down what they thought they heard in their notes.
Alas, this is usually not was intended by the lecturer.  For evidence of the
latter assertion see the preface to Feynman's notes where he admits that his
carefully crafted brilliant lectures did nothing to improve student
understanding.  I would also refer you to the work of the UMass Amherst PER
group or the Heller's, both of whom have methods that promote concept based
problem solving rather than equation hunting problem solving.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX

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