Re: [Phys-l] Students' READING abilities

[Julie Quah <juliequah@gmail.com>]

I agree with Fouad that familiarity does bring a sense of comfort and  
lessen the fear / repulsion (?) towards the textbook reading,  
something that most teachers have taken for granted. These kids  
nowadays are borned into the MTV era, seeking information by watching  
Youtube, textbook reading is no longer a natural skill anymore. I  
usually give short reading assignment whereby students are required to  
respond to certain probing questions. This seems to help pushing them  
towards the textbook and becoming familiar with the text and pages.I  
also pull out certain paragraph of the text for discussion, getting  
them to see how the context of a certain discussion (eg using POE  
strategy to propel a demonstration on inertia) can be explained/ 
substantiated by statements found in the textbook, and I work the end  
of chapter questions with them, not the solution part, but probing  
them with 'what does the Q wants you to find? Which word is key to  
solving such Q?' and the likes...
And yes, the kids need to bring their textbook to all Physics class,  
non-negotiable.

Julie from Singapore

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 24, 2009, at 2:29 AM, "Fouad Ajami" <ajami@allstream.net> wrote:

> Edmiston quotes his students:
>
> > (1) Oh, I don't read the lab handouts because I can never understand
> > them.  I just ask someone else in the class what we're supposed to  
> > do.
> >
> > (2) I did read the handout, and it didn't make any sense to me, so I
> > just used my own judgment about what we were supposed to do.  [Which
> > might not be so bad if the student took the time to develop some good
> > judgement about the goal of the experiment and how one might reach
> > that
> > goal.]
>
> Then he concludes:
>
> > Conclusions:
> >
> > Many students don't read.  Many students can't read critically and
> > understand what is written.  Students don't listen.  Students would
> > rather copy someone else in the class.  I have office hours, but
> > students won't come to office hours to ask questions.
> _________________________
>
> Nothing  can be done if a student insists on not reading.
>
> But, in any class, there will always be a number of students who will
> read a textbook (or other document), if  the fear of reading is taken
> away from them.
>
> Going back to my graduate studies days in engineering school in the  
> late
> sixties, I remember that my fear of reading a mathematics text was
> triggered whenever I came across the expression "iff" (if and only  
> if).
> That was the signal for my brain  to shut down.
>
> Since I went into teaching, that lesson remained with me, and I have
> sympathized to some extent with students who find the textbooks
> terrifying. I have tried to mitigate some of this fear by insisting on
> students bringing their books to all classes and working, as much as
> possible, with the book. My theory, unsupported by any research  
> though,
> is that if the ground is familiar, the reasonably responsible student
> will tread on it more readily.
>
> Fouad I. Ajami
> Physics Department
> Champlain College
> 900 Riverside Drive,
> St Lambert, QC, Canada, J4P 3P2
> Tel: 450-672-7360-272
> Fax: 450-672-9299
>
>
>
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