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Re: [Phys-L] Edu Videos



On 03/28/2013 10:57 AM, Paul Lulai wrote:

research has been done that shows engaging in a prediction before an
experiment is valueable.

OK! Good! That's an argument I can relate to. Let's talk about that.

We agree there is a way in which making predictions can be valuable.
However, as with anything else, there are better and worse ways of going
about it.

Tangential remark: The Jaywalking interviews in the veritasium relativity
video are so far removed from asking people to make thoughtful scientific
predictions that I did not see the connection until Paul pointed it out
just now.

I like to emphasize that the rule should be to consider *all* the plausible
hypotheses. If you toss a coin, you should consider the possibility that
it will come up heads *and* the possibility that it will come up tails.
This sort of scenario-planning is standard procedure in business, in the
military, in the Boy Scouts, and indeed in everyday life. Science is not
some TV guessing game or gambling game, where we are required to guess
the outcome in advance. Do people really think that scientists are less
scientific than Boy Scouts?

I am quite aware that there are innumerable "science fairs" at every
level from 3rd grade through high school inclusive that teach people
to treat science as a guessing/gambling game, but it's still wrong.
The fact that it's prevalent doesn't make it any less crazy.

Considering *all* the plausible outcomes is necessary for safety if
nothing else.

Asking students to list, in advance, a *range* of plausible outcomes
is better that calling for a specific guess, not just from the technical
point of view but from the psychological / pedagogical point of view
also. That's because it greatly reduces the risk that they will get
psychologically invested in a wrong prediction.

Furthermore, conventional and reasonable procedure is to teach the
students a little something about the topic before asking them to
formulate hypotheses.

So, add this to the list of things that could easily have been done
right (even though this particular video did them wrong).