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Re: [Phys-l] Reading PER literature



Just a couple comments inline...

----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Lulai" <plulai@stanthony.k12.mn.us>
To: "Forum for Physics Educators" <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 5:32 PM
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Reading PER literature


If lecture is all it takes, why doesn't the book alone work?

Define "lecture". If it amounts to nothing but listening to an instructor read his/her notes, then perhaps you're correct. And the book alone DOES work for some people.

Why send a kid to lecture?

As opposed to...?

Why not just give the kid your notes?

See book above. It may also be that one's "notes" are simply an outline and not a fully fleshed-out treatment.

Maybe a little something extra hits a few more kids.

Several "somethings" is sometimes better than one "something", so I agree.

Keep talking about how more and more physics & science grad students are
from other countries.
Fine. Do something about it. Teach differently.

Hmmm. But many of them study here, so what does THAT say? Also, don't overlook the huge ratio of students in the world versus "here"; it would be unreasonable to expect us to represent more than a tiny fraction of that total. You have the additional problem that our population is influenced by our culture and its values. Science isn't as high up on that list as it once might have been. This isn't to say that changing the way we teach might not have an impact, but I'm not sure how big it's likely to be.

Will more scholarships really spark an interest in people? I would
guess only those that find the stuff interesting in the first place.

There is also an issue of financial expectation from the profession.

There is no scholarship in the world that would make me to get a
graduate degree in a subject that didn't genuinely spark my
curiosity/interest.

A fair point.