Some subscribers to Phys-L might be interested in a recent
discussion-list post "What Mathematicians Might Learn From
Physicists: Response to Wurman" [Hake (2012)]. The abstract reads:
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ABSTRACT: In my post "What Mathematicians Might Learn From
Physicists: Response to Hansen" at <http://bit.ly/NxE6kB>, I
paraphrased Hansen's answers at <http://bit.ly/S1Rcpn> to David
Bressoud's question at <http://bit.ly/MrAuyZ>: "Why doesn't the
existence of research-based instructional strategies (RBIS) together
with documentation of their effectiveness guarantee their widespread
adoption?" as follows:
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
The physicists' research based instructional strategies [RBIS]:
1. appear very compromised, designed as they are for only
academically uninterested terminal students;
2. lack the essentials for academically interested students: rigor,
detail, development, and challenge;
3. claim to be "successful," but here the accepted notion of
"success" is replaced with something entirely different;
4. doomed because they don't produce advocates.
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I then argued that THE ABOVE FOUR ANSWERS ARE BLATANTLY INCORRECT.
[Note: I think Hansen's slightly corrected four paraphrased answers
at <http://bit.ly/PfeOn4> are also blatantly incorrect.]
In response, Ze'ev Wurman in a Math-Learn post at
<http://yhoo.it/Px8qKf> excused himself from any detailed analysis of
Hansen's answers with this vague statement: "Hake then tries to
reject Hansen's arguments. Unsuccessfully as far as I am concerned,
but that is neither here nor there." Instead Wurman concentrates on
nitpicking my offhand criticism of Hansen's misuse of "disinterested"
to mean "uninterested." Accordingly, this post is in two parts:
PART I: "Hansen's Use of *Disinterested* to Mean *Uninterested* Is a
Linguistic Atrocity," for those interested in linguistics;
PART II. "Wurman's Long Record of Uninformed Arguments in Favor of
Bad Educational Ideas," for those interested in education: Examples -
Wurman's advocacy of:
A. Diverting K-12 Funding From Librarians to Teachers,
B. Direct Instruction Over Hands- and Minds-On Pedagogy,
C. Phonics Over Whole Language for Reading Instruction.
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"Conflict is the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and
memory. It instigates to invention. It shocks us out of sheep-like
passivity, and sets us at noting and contriving. Not that it always
effects this result; but that conflict is a sine qua non of
reflection and ingenuity."
John Dewey "Morals Are Human," Dewey: Middle Works, Vol.14, p. 207
REFERENCES [URL shortened by <http://bitly.com/> and accessed on 23
August 2012.]
Hake, R.R. 2012. "What Mathematicians Might Learn From Physicists:
Response to Wurman," online on the OPEN AERA-L archives at
<http://bit.ly/TXMvNs>. Post of 23 Aug 2012 14:56:24-0700 to AERA-L
and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being
transmitted to several discussion lists and are also on my blog
"Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/MPsKXQ> with a provision for
comments.