Re: the words used in problems

[Brian Whatcott <betwys1@SBCGLOBAL.NET>]

At 03:33 PM 12/17/2003, you wrote:
> I have wondering recently as to whether studies have been done in
> which problems are written in different ways to determine students'
> success or failure to answer them simply based on the way in which
> the problems are worded.  Also, I had heard recently that using the
> word "you" in a problem is better than using "a physics student" or
> "Jimmy" makes a difference in a student's ability to answer
> questions.  Does anyone have information on these issues?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> David Marx
> Illinois State University


I suppose it may have something to do with a student's
understanding that he is being treated as an individual,
rather than an undifferentiated component of the corpus.

One slightly comparable study with which I expect you are
familiar, shows that a stranger, accosted in the street shows
 much better recall for the message, if the messenger casually
 touches the recipient - say on the wrist....
..A reminder that the consciousness is not a unitary state - and
that awareness has its levels of intensity.



Brian Whatcott    Altus OK    Eureka!