Jeff Nagelbush asked: "Is this always true? If a physicist is attempting to get students to understand how the physical world works and students, at the end of the class, still have the same naive pysical beliefs they had before (which, unfortunately, is typical), is that a failure of education? And if the physics teacher succeeds in getting students to have more accurate beliefs about how the world works, is that indoctrination?"
My response: Do the physics students understand and can they accurately express the physicist's understanding of the world and yet choose to accept their own naive view? Then grading them on their choice of view would reflect indoctrination and not education. I don't think it is typical for a person to understand the principles of physics and still choose to believe their naive views but I would limit my educational goals to having them achieve an understanding of what I taught. I teach at an interdenominational Christian college and students take Bible classes here as part of the Core curriculum. They are not graded on their agreement with the teacher's doctrinal beliefs but by their ability to show evidence of their understanding of various doctrines discussed in the class. If they can do that in a religion class, I think they can do it in physics classes, too. Rick Dr. Rick Froman Associate Professor of Psychology John Brown University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 (479) 524-7295 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://www.jbu.edu/academics/sbs/rfroman.asp --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
