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[Phys-L] Re: Is Anyone?



Have you checked the flag site to see what sorts of assessment are
there. Also it seems to me that using Mazur's questions would give
you an idea of the current state of student understanding.

just a thought...also, the supplementary problem in Physics by
Inquiry can be used to good advantage.

cheers

Joseph J. Bellina, Jr. Ph.D.
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556

On Jan 14, 2006, at 5:26 PM, Sheron Snyder wrote:

This I know as I have been teaching for 40 years now.

I did find that the materials I listed DID aid me in correcting
ideas the
students had after a "lecture"...my style is really more of a
discussion.

I just was hoping someone was developing the same cutting edge
materials for
physics that Slatter, et al and Zeilik did for Astronomy. I only
have a few
more years of teaching in me and wanted to continue to do the best
I can for
my students.

Sheron


----- Original Message -----
From: "John Clement" <clement@HAL-PC.ORG>
To: <PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2006 4:42 PM
Subject: Re: Is Anyone?


Unfortunately, I don't think there are any real shortcuts to
generating
student understanding, and to promoting cognitive enhancement in
student
thinking. Changing the way students think requires time.
Research shows
that it may take up to two weeks for concept accommodation. So
piling
more
on in the meantime may be quite unproductive.

Taking the necessary time is not really a luxury, it is a
necessity. I
realize that there are institutional issues, but when students only
partially digest material, they get very little benefit from it.
So of
course one picks and chooses what material will be treated
properly, while
the rest is covered in a cursory fashion. The best solution is to
find a
way to throw out all but the essentials and then teach them well.

Most curricula were decided without any consideration for whether
it is
actually possible for the student to understand and make it part
of their
thinking. Sometimes you get the best results by throwing out the
idea of
a
curriculum and instead teach for the best student cognitive
enhancement.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX


It is very time consuming, a luxury I can not offer. The
Lectures I do
are
not long and are very focused.
So I was hoping for materials that confronted the students like the
CAPER
team's work or Zeilik's work.

I do many many hands and minds on activities and demos and was
looking
for
some other means of assessing my impact in a manner with more
immediate
feedback than waiting for a test.
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