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Re: [Phys-l] Interesting students in clicker questions?




On 2011, Sep 02, , at 01:53, Kornbrot, Diana wrote:

However, the scientist of the future need skills, basic and advanced.
The teacher's problem is to make clear why the rote skills are needed to
underpin new discoveries.


Well, .. exactly what RPF wrote in Ch. 1 of "Tips on Physics".


"Errors in algebra, differentiation, and integration are only nonsense; they're things that just annoy the ph;ysics, and annoy your mind while you're trying to analyze something. You should be able to do the calculations as quickly as possible and with a minimum of errors. That requires nothing but ROTE PRACTICE**--that's the only way to do it. It's like making yourself a multiplication table, like you did in elementary school: they'd put a bunch of numbers on the board, and you'd go: "This times that , times that," and so no--Bing! Bing! Bing!" (p. 19)



** My emphasis.

bc thinks argumentum ad verecundiam, here, not fallacious.

------------
Because having knowledge and skills at your fingertips is extremely
satisfying
Mastery is fun. What's more clicker questions may require mental working -
which is good practice.
Have you noticed popularity of quiz shows?
Much more importantly if a person has a novel problem then their
overlearned boring facts are activated by association and may be a source
of creative and innovative solutions.
Do you think Beethoven didn't practice?

Obvioulsy if a course is ONLY rote skills it is boring and unproductive.
However, the scientist of the future need skills, basic and advanced.
The teacher's problem is to make clear why the rote skills are needed to
underpin new discoveries.
Obvioulsy teachers of many teachers failed miserably on this respect
Best

Diana




____________________________________________
Professor Diana Kornbrot
email: d.e.kornbrot@herts.ac.uk

cut


On 02/09/2011 01:43, "Dewey Dykstra" <ddykstra@BOISESTATE.EDU> wrote:

In the same vein, why would an intelligent, curious student prefer to
answer questions that are essentially recall and requests to repeat a
drilled skill? Students who prefer such treatment have some serious
changing to do in order to become effective scientists. Continuing to
ask this type of questions (above) in physics classes is a sure way to
get technicians who are not interested particularly in understanding what
they are doing or calculating in to physics. Is that what we want? Can
we afford to load up on such students?

Dewey

On Aug 29, 2011, at 8:37 PM, robert fuller wrote:

Do clicker questions you are using encourage student motivation for
learning?

I would like to refer you to the motivation for learning work of Malone.
Malone, T.,"Toward a Theory of Intrinsically Motivating
Instruction", Cognitive Science 4, 333-369 (1981).
His suggestions:
Intrinsically Motivating Instruction

Challenge
Provides goals whose attainment is uncertain

Fantasy
make instructional environments more interesting and more educational

Curiosity
provide an optimal level of informational complexity


I think too often the questions we physics teachers ask are not
intrinsically interesting to the students.

Bob Fuller
UNL