Re: [Phys-L] Edu Videos

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 03/28/2013 06:51 AM, Paul Lulai wrote:
> I don't think a large percentage of people would approach relativity
> or entropy in a way that would fully satisfy you.

That may be ... but the question arises:  Why not?

The right answer has been known for more than 100 years (Minkowski 1908).
Simple ways of explaining it to general audiences have been known for
almost 50 years that I know of (Taylor & Wheeler 1965) ... and possibly
longer.

Making a video is never easy, but my whole point is that comparatively
speaking, doing things right is vastly easier than goofing around with
rulers that can't be trusted, clocks that can't be trusted, and masses
that depend on velocity in all-too-many ways.  With a tiny fraction of
the effort Derek Muller put into the graphic of the Lorentz-contracted
train, he could have done something consistent with the modern (post-1908)
approach.

I can spell out specific constructive details on this if anybody is
interested.

The bad teacher's motto is:  "I teach the way I was taught."

We're supposed to be better than that.  When are we going to stop
teaching stuff that is more than 100 years out of date?

> Students do tend to like videos like these.  They are like candy.

You know what they like even more?  Sex and violence.  Where is this
going?  Should we make a video of naked people shooting each other
at the speed of light, and call it a physics lesson?  Are we really
that desperate for attention?

On 03/28/2013 08:34 AM, Paul Lulai wrote

> > Another point about PbI, Tutorials, and most Veritassium videos...
> > They often (perhaps not always) present to the student or viewer 2
> > or more conceptions that seem to disagree with each other. Both
> > conceptions may seem valid as a reflex thought process, so the
> > student needs to think about their response.

Details matter.  One hugely important "detail" here is the /order/
of presentation.

The conventional and reasonable approach is to present the right answer
first.  Thought-provoking contrasts come later.
 1) Here is the highway.  
 2) Look what a nice highway it is.
 3) Look at all the places this highway will take you.
 4) et cetera
 11) BTW, over there by the side of the road there is a ditch full
  of poisonous thorny weeds.  Don't go there.

Nobody with any sense /starts/ in the weeds.