(10 geek points if you already know what this post is going to be about)
There are certain things that you take for granted as a physics student in America. The first three that came to my mind are rainbows, monkeys, and rivers.
(5 geek points if you now know what this post is going to be about)
These three examples are staples of the American physics classroom. When you learn about optics, you learn about how rainbows are made. When you learn about projectile motion, you "shoot the monkey," and when you learn about vector addition, you paddle across a running river. Every general physics book I have laid my hands on has covered these three examples in some form*.
But there are so many differenced between the German and the American physics system. Do these children, bright as they are, know about rainbows? Do they know about shooting the monkey? I'm making it my mission to find out.
What spurred this? I was sitting at home with Andi earlier today - outside the front window, the sun was setting behind a light rain. Because I've taken physics from Terry Johnson, and I've played in my fair share of lawn sprinklers, I knew that if the sun was setting in front of the house, and it was raining, there must be a rainbow out back. I didn't have to look first - I just knew. I wonder if this kind of thing gets taught in the German classroom.
For example, today was the third or fourth time I've sat in on the "here's how a transformer works" demonstration. I've heard it from three different teachers for two different grades, and not a one of them has (as far as I have heard) mentioned all the transformer steps between a power station and your house. Transformers allow us to move electrical power through miles and miles of electrical lines, with very little loss. It may not sound like life-changing information, but to me, it's like not getting to hear the end of a favorite song.
This is not to say that the teachers didn't have great demonstrations of the usefulness of transformers - all of them showed off the step-up transformer hooked to a Jacob's Ladder, and one of them even melted wax with a step-down transformer and a ring-shaped wax holder.
I just worry that the students, bright as they are, aren't getting the whole picture. Physics isn't just whizz-bang neat-o demonstrations in a classroom, or a set of beautiful equations - it's the most accurate explanation of the inner workings of the universe known to humans.
Maybe the magic is getting lost in translation.
*the one exception being my university physics book. Apparently, to be more sensitive to... monkeys, I guess... the example involved shooting a coconut. A coconut. Who shoots at a coconut? What possible reason is there to shoot a coconut? I swear...
Cheers,
Jeremy
4 comments:
I have 10 geek points, thanks to Terry Johnson for being my physics teacher!
Hmmm, I have 10 geek points. I'm not sure if this is good or bad. Either way, hope you are having a good time.
Well, I read this before anyone commented and was waiting for the comments to come in, but I guess that's done. I'm very pleased to have at least a couple of students who can remember the basic physics I taught them. I was trapped in a workshop last week with my boss and a bunch of other teachers from the county. In the workshop we had to discuss how a good teacher would use a student's past experiences to teach them the "book learnin'". Most teachers agreed that past experiences were mostly useless. This would be the time I actually stopped rolling my eyes and talked during the six hours of hades.
"How do you propose to teach wave motion to someone who has never been in a boat?" I asked them. The organizer of the workshop said, "Well, I'm sure all your students have been in a boat." Then the teacher sitting right beside her said, "Um...I've never been in a boat." So I continued explaining how experience and inherent curiosity are the most valuable teaching tools I have.
I wanted to continue with "and that's why I should be in charge of this stupid workshop instead of listening to you people tell me how pausing for a few seconds while the student finds the answer in their book is the mark of a good teacher." Blah.
So when are you going to grow some man parts and stand up to the stupid workshop instructors? Was it a teacher from MVE who has never been in a boat, please tell me it isn’t true? I know there was something in class that one of us three, or all of us hadn’t experienced; oh none of us had ever played any instrument for any length of time to pick up on what you were talking, in the time you would have liked for us to comprehend, when we were discussing wind and string instruments, I do believe. But I comprehend it now! :) Any ways this is Jeremy’s blog and I’m taking up space.
P.S. By the way Mr. Terry Johnson why do we not get this type of spill on your blog? No I have to come all the way to Jeremy’s blog to read about funny things that happen in a workshop you go to…lol…pray you are doing fine! :)
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