Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: [Phys-L] Physics prof strips down to underwear to teach QM



I was just checking the chronicle and found a link to the performance. It is apparently on Vimeo if you are curious.


On Feb 20, 2013, at 11:01 AM, jbellina wrote:

As I recall, Sheila Tobias has humanities faculty be students in a class taught by a good physics professor. The "studenst" took notes on their experiences which Sheila then used. One observation was that the demonstrations were interesting but often the "students" didn't know what to look for. I think that is an example of why it is important to engage students by asking them to predict what is going to happen. That process will help them see what is to be seen in the demonstration.

joe

On Feb 20, 2013, at 9:21 AM, John Clement wrote:

I was a graduate student who was a TA in the RPI physics department during
the heyday of their carefully crafted lectures, labs, and demos. There is
no doubt that these were state of the art at the time. But further research
has shown how little students actually learn from even the best crafted
demos. Of course at that time there was no way of comparing the RPI
experience with other schools. So I contend that the these very fine demos
did not have the effect that everyone assumes they did.

A very recent study, which I have already referenced, showed that the
understanding of physics is purely a matter of whether IE or standard
conventional methods are used. The IE classes uniformly showed about 5
times the gain as the conventional classes. This was completely independent
of the instructor.

We all like to think that experienced dedicated instructors will do better
than inexperienced instructors. But the seminal study done at ASU showed
that this was not so. Indeed there are other older studies in JRST which
have shown the same thing.

Demonstrations when used as verification to reinforce the point, actually do
no such thing. Again, go back to the Mazur talks and the video on YouTube.
Demonstrations need to have prediction and peer interaction. They need to
be used as learning experiences rather than reiforcers. The ILDs by
Thornton and Sokolff do work very well, but the demos are NOT reinforcers.
RPI had basically the conventional passive lectures which all give the same
low results. This also applies to labs. When they are used a
verifications, they are not very effective.

It is a misconception that standard passive lectures, even spiced with good
demos, are very effective. All the research shows this. RPI was one of the
best at crafting standard lectures with demos. This may have improved
learning slightly, but you can not get large effect sizes this way. IE can
get large effect sizes. This can be done without any physical demos.
Indeed the ILDs show fairly good effectiveness even when the students are
told the results rather than seeing them, according to Thornton and
Sokoloff. It is the sequencing of the ideas and student interaction that is
important, not the beauty of the demos. So the real tragedy of stripping
down is that the stripper did not understand how ineffective this is.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX


As the person who, three decades ago, put together and staged
the demonstrations at Rensselaer for the likes of my good
colleagues Walter Eppenstein, Harry Meiners and Fred Leitner
(including the previously mention wire-guided rocket) ...

In the hands of someone who was actively teaching the physics
and not just doing a "magic show" a good demonstration can
reinforce the point. But, I agree that if the intent is
simply to be remembered, there's little learning. For
example, the rocket previously mentioned in this thread was
only the final piece of an extended discussion of momentum
conservation, usually followed by more interaction to
understand what they'd actually seen.

**********************************************************
"I am not a crackpot!"
-
Grandpa Simpson
**********************************************************

Dr. George Spagna
Physics Department
Randolph-Macon College
P.O. Box 5005
Ashland, VA 23005-5505

phone: (804) 752-7344
fax: (804) 752-4724
e-mail: gspagna@rmc.edu
http://faculty.rmc.edu/gspagna/public_html/index.html

_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@phys-l.org
http://www.phys-l.org/mailman/listinfo/phys-l



_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@phys-l.org
http://www.phys-l.org/mailman/listinfo/phys-l

Joseph J. Bellina, Jr. Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of Physics
Co-Director
Northern Indiana Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Collaborative
574-276-8294
inquirybellina@comcast.net




_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@phys-l.org
http://www.phys-l.org/mailman/listinfo/phys-l

Joseph J. Bellina, Jr. Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of Physics
Co-Director
Northern Indiana Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Collaborative
574-276-8294
inquirybellina@comcast.net