[Phys-L] Re: In the Private Universe

["Frohne, Vickie" <VFrohne@BEN.EDU>]

I think that it's very good for people to know where seasons come fro=
m. And when I teach astronomy, I spend a lot of time on seasons and d=
iscuss seasons for planets of different axial tilts. =20
=20
There are also a lot of other good things that I would like to teach.=
   It would be very worthwhile to include X-rays, radioactivity, and =
 concepts related to medical imaging technology, especially in course=
s for pre-meds.  People use transistors every day without knowing it,=
 but how many know what a transistor is?  And why is laser light diff=
erent from light from LED's? And what's the difference between an LED=
 and a light bulb?  But how can I introduce these things, when I don'=
t have enough time in a year to teach all the "standard" topics and t=
heir applications properly?  If I wanted to make a course that's more=
interesting and useful (beyond MCAT preparation), which, if any, of t=
he traditional topics could be considered expendable?  =20
=20
Short answer for the past 100 years: none of 'em. They're all essenti=
al. Which is why the standard list of topics is so fossilized, with t=
he possible exception of Charbay & Sherwood.  I haven't used it yet, =
but I've heard it's interesting.
=20
Vickie=20

________________________________

=46rom: Forum for Physics Educators on behalf of Anthony Lapinski
Sent: Thu 2/24/2005 3:32 PM
To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
Subject: Re: In the Private Universe



I teach the seasons because people don't know what really causes them=
. So
hopefully they can appreciate and understand the physical world aroun=
d
them. To me, this is very important. The seasons affect all of us.
Critical thinking skills -- what if the Earth weren't tilted?

Each teacher has a "specialty" or area of interest. We'll never agree=
 on
what should be taught, or even how it should be taught. On a related =
note:
Heat is taught in chemistry. Does that mean we should not teach it in
physics? The books present the info in quite different ways, and I im=
agine
it is taught (conceptually) differently too.

Forum for Physics Educators <PHYS-L@list1.ucc.nau.edu> on Thursday,
February 24, 2005 at 4:13 PM -0500 wrote:
> On reflection, explaining the seasons is probably by far the most
> complicated and difficult of the "elementary" science concepts. One =
could
> easily spend a whole week teaching the concepts necessary to underst=
and
> the correct explanation for the seasons. It's no surprise that most
> people haven't "gotten" it. Light bulbs, on the other hand... never =
mind.
> A large globe with two solar cells attached to it works. One solar c=
ell
> is attached to the equator, the other near the pole, so that they ar=
e
> tangent to the surface of the globe. Attaching a large voltmeter to =
each
> cell, then illuminating the globe with a projector, shows that the t=
ilt
> makes a difference in how much energy is available. I haven't done i=
t,
> but saw it done on a kid-science TV show once. It was a cool demo.
>
> Topic for conversation:  How important is it, really, that most peop=
le
> understand the seasons? We no longer use the motions of the Sun, Moo=
n,
> and stars for navigation or timekeeping, so most people have no prac=
tical
> use for this information. The seasons will happen just the same whet=
her
> they are fully understood or not. Is this a topic worth spending a l=
ot of
> instructional time on? Or in an over-packed school year of physics, =
is
> there something else more worthy of our limited instructional time, =
like
> electrical safety, global warming, lasers, medical imaging, or
> transistors? And whatever happened to Simple Machines?  Their loss i=
s
> deplorable, as is anything else "applied." Why don't we ditch electr=
ic
> and magnetic fields (a topic best understood at advanced levels)in f=
avor
> of basic semiconductors or liquid crystal displays? What physics top=
ics
> should be considered "essential" today?
>
> Vickie Frohne
> vfrohne@ben.edu
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Forum for Physics Educators [mailto:PHYS-L@list1.ucc.nau.edu]O=
n
> Behalf Of John M Clement
> Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2005 11:22 AM
> To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
> Subject: Re: In the Private Universe
>
>
> One of the things that has been ignored in discussion of the seasons
> is that it is a cognitively difficult thing to understand.
>
> *lots of good stuff snipped*
>
> A useful thing would be to have a model of the earth where the
> students could observe the amount of light intensity/area.  I would
> propose a globe with either a light sensor imbedded in it attached t=
o
> a meter, or a translucent section that provides light in the interio=
r,
> and a peephole that students could observe the light intensity.  The=
n
> students could see the effect of the angle.  Then they could explore
> how the angle and the illumination changes with the seasons.
>
> John M. Clement
> Houston, TX