Re: Pedagogy

[Robert Cohen <Robert.Cohen@PO-BOX.ESU.EDU>]

On Friday, May 07, 2004 9:41 AM, Michael Edmiston wrote:

> Re: PedagogyCarl Mungan tangentially made an important point 
> that certainly happens in my teaching... students asking 
> questions about easy problems on the day before they are due.
>
> What this boils down to is not about a student with a 
> conceptual problem, but rather a student with a time problem.

In my algebra-based physics, I assign 5-10 problems every class
so students can't wait until the day before they are due to ask
easy questions.  But I still get the occasional question that
tempts me to roll my eyes.

I think the problem is that students skip over problems and wait
until a month or two later to ask a question that should've been
asked a month or two earlier.  I guess they assume (or hope) that
their weakness will be addressed "automatically".  Unfortunately,
it isn't and they become hopelessly lost.  When they finally build
up the courage to ask, it turns out their weakness was "supposed
to" be addressed months ago, thus leading to the instructor's
rolling of eyes.

Several people have mentioned Jackson, so I'll tell my own
Jackson story.  I took my course with Jackson without ever taking
anything beyond physics II.  I don't think I understood much
of anything in Jackson but I was still able to get through it.
This implies to me that you don't need much more than a good
grounding in mathematics for Jackson.  I am sure if I asked
any questions in that year-long class, my weak understanding
of the PHYSICS would've shown right through.

So, perhaps students ask "stupid" questions because they aren't
able to articulate and identify their weaknesses in a timely
manner.

____________________________________________________
Robert Cohen; 570-422-3428; www.esu.edu/~bbq
East Stroudsburg University; E. Stroudsburg, PA 18301