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Re: Appropriate for Gen Phys? was: comprehending electric/magnetic interactions



That is a very good point. Students certainly need to experience
ambiguity and the idea that the model being used is always incomplete
and can be changed. There is also the goal of getting students to even
consider a formal model as distinct from the type of less structured
thinking that they are currently using. What is done to get students to
engage in alternate ways of thinking is always a balancing act, and far
more difficult than the conventional tell them the facts and what to
think, and exactly how to solve each problem they will be given.

One difficulty that students have to overcome is the problem that they
won't consistently use the information they have been given. You can
give them a simple statement such as the force that a spring exerts
depends on how much you compress or stretch the spring. Then when asked
to apply this idea to a variety of situations they will say that 2
identical springs stretched the same amount will pull more on a bigger
block than on a smaller one. Hmmm.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX


I guess my question is (try to forgive the loaded language),
why
force a formal model on kids <at that level>. The fun of science is
wading through all the wrong models. That's some of what we're trying
to
convey, right? And with that comment, I'll engage in a diversion on a
related subject that I just happen to be reading about. Enter the
Y-Chromosome.