Re: [Phys-l] MIT world video, "Teaching the Second Law"

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 01/25/2010 08:39 PM, curtis osterhoudt wrote:

> http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/540/

Horrifying.  Macabre.

>   Some professors weigh in on teaching the 2nd law of Thermo. 

Apparently no physics professors.  Also nobody from
the cryptography, communications, machine learning,
or statistics communities.

> Interesting takes on where students get hung up.

Interesting?  I found it infuriating.  My reaction 
was, "Duh, if you run through a cactus plantation 
at night, you're going to get hung up."  That is 
to say, the nine panelists described at least eight 
different ways of making the subject seem infinitely 
more complicated and less useful than it really is.

No wonder the students get hung up.

I had no idea the situation was so bad.  Maybe I'm
naive, but I would have preferred to stay naive.

Now I need to go watch The Exorcist or The Shining,
something to get the image of that MIT video out of
my head.  Otherwise I'm gonna have nightmares.