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Re: Pedagogy



Hugh Haskell wrote:

At 13:46 -0500 5/6/04, Vickie Frohne wrote:



One thing that helps is to tell students, explicitly, that they are expected
to figure things out. Nobody "automagically" knows the answers, although
sometimes it can seem that way.



I found, quite by accident, that if I clearly didn't know how to
solve a problem once it was raised, and the students got to watch my
thought processes as I worked through it, it helped them. Once I
stumbled on to this, I would try to get a problem or two tossed out
each week that I didn't know how to solve before-hand, and then as I
worked through the problem, I would point out explicitly what I was
doing and why. If I had to flail a bit to find a method, I pointed
that out. If I was trying a couple of different approaches to see
which one worked, or worked better, they were told that, too.

This way, they got to watch the process work, and could get some idea
of what approaches an "expert" problem solver might follow in solving
a particular problem for the first time. They saw that I tried to
categorize the problem not by the context, but by the physical
principle(s) involved, and then they saw how I applied the principles
to the problem, and when I reached a dead end they would see that,
and realize that it happens to everyone and not to beat their heads
against them, but go back and try a different approach.


Hugh Haskell
<mailto:haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto:hhaskell@mindspring.com>

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I echo what Hugh says here! Several years ago, I quite looking over
homework problems before class and trying to work them "cold" when asked
questions about the homework by a student. That way they get to see at
least my way of tackling problems with false starts, dead ends, etc. I
have found it necessary to warn my class at the star of the semester
that I do this, so they should not be surprised when I get stuck and
cannot work a problem correctly in class. This allows those student who
have worked the problem to correct me and "help" me out. They also get
to see the error checking that goes on while working on a problem. I
assign 17-18 problem sets of 8 - 10 problems throughout the semester
for 30% of their final grade. I make these assignments at the start of
the semester via a handout schedule. This year I have utilized Web
Assign for homework (Halliday & Resnick, 6th) and have found that this
has nearly eliminated late homework, and late returns from my grader.
The only disadvantage I have found is that a few good problems I like
are not listed on Webassign, and that calculus type solution problems (
i.e. find E field produced by circular arc) are not easily handled on
WebAssign. Students get four submissions for their solutions and
usually print out their version of the problem and work on it before
attempting to submit. If you have not tried it, I recommend it if there
is a solution set for your textbook.
James Mackey