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[Phys-L] Re: In the Private Universe



Precisely the point. These people don't remember so they told what they
believed to be true. So how is it that their education wasn't effective
enough to change their belief about the seasons. This is not like
forgetting the french word for picnic, thats a memory thing, but I don't
think how we see the motion of the earth and the resulting seasons in
our mind's eye as the same sort of thing. Perhaps I'm wrong.

If you understand the biology and chemistry of tree growth, will you
forget were the mass comes from. I think we are talking about the
difference between integrated long term memory and short time
disconnected memory.

joe

SSHS KPHOX wrote:

Forum for Physics Educators <PHYS-L@list1.ucc.nau.edu> on Tuesday,
February 22, 2005 at 9:56 AM +0000 wrote:


I think the power of the piece about the seasons rests not just in the
notion that these graduates got it wrong, but that the reason they got
is wrong may be the way they constructed their belief based on a
mistaken notion of the earths orbit coupled with their experience of
being warmer when you are close to something hot.



In addition, I have come to the conclusion that there are many things in
my life that I have "learned" and "understood" but in the long lapse of
time when I have not used the idea it fades. These graduates were thinking
of other things and had not pondered the seasons for some time. I suspect
there is smilar truth about the light bulb.

How fluent are we today in the language we "learned" in high school?
People who live abroad learn the language but when back home it fades.

What do trees do to gain mass?

I found the tapes and discussion interesting even compelling, but the
starting test of learning a bit shaky.

Ken Fox




--
Joseph J. Bellina, Jr. Ph.D.
574-284-4662, 4968
Saint Mary's College
Dept. of Chemistry and Physics
Notre Dame, IN, 46556