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[Phys-L] Re: Energy is primary and fundamental? (was RE: First Day Activities or Demos)



jbellina wrote:
This is the sort of approach that I had heard about...it sounds very
interesting. One thing however, since force is in our common
vocabulary and sounds like physics, if you don't mention it at all, is
there a danger that the students will think they are learning about
something which is not really part of their world? Or do you bring in
force in at least casually, so they know it is part of the scheme of
things.
The danger is that the course could just be an academic experience for
the students, but has no real bearing on their lives.


That is an interesting point. I think the connection to real life is in
the examples. One can talk about billiards, car crashes, and asteroid
impacts all with the same concepts. We do an analysis of diets, looking
at fat turned to heat. We look at movies as well (like the bus jump in
Speed). I invite them to bring things in from their lives, and we pick
them apart, again from an energy-momentum perspective.


bb


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bblais@bryant.edu
http://web.bryant.edu/~bblais