i have a few interests to get into. if you read more you’ll gradually see them expose themselves. the first one i’ll get into is misconceptions and bloging.
we walk around with notions that perfectly suit our world. if you’re one who believes in genes, evo-devo and natural selection, you’d appreciate that those of us beings who can understand or taught certain basic physical laws (2 distinct objects can’t occupy the same space at the same time) live long enough to pass down those abilities. those who can’t don’t live very long, so there’s probably not too many around today. if you don’t believe in evo-devo, or genes, etc., well, we have the abilities we have, and that observed fact exists independently of its cause.
our conceptions work well for us. we push a block, and when we stop pushing, it slows and/or stops. we reason that the block is only affected by our force of push so long as we physically influence it by touching it. many of the ideas in physics serve to do little more–for most people–than overcomplicate already useful notions of our world with extra rules which experts use esoteric math to “prove” are more correct than our inherent constructions of fact.
this coming schoolyear, 2006-7 i will investigate how we can use–nay, exploit–these misconceptions to teach classical physics. my methodology is is to retrieve journal articles on physics misconceptions with the goal of fishing out 2 questions or ideas per unit (in regentls-level physics there are 12 units) and allowing students to discuss them in groups.
the groups will vary in size, from approximately 6 - 8 students, and will take place online in group-blogs. the idea is that while working in the classroom, the emphasis is on building skills to pass high-acountability tests in preparation for the regents exam. questions about deeper concept and fundamental understandings hardly ever get addressed. this context allows students to use their peers to have those conversations.
