It’s All Relative in Physics

Two Hundred Ninety Seventh Post: It’s All Relative in Physics

I have purchased a book about a year or more ago called “Experiments in Modern Physics” by Melissinos and Napolitano. I read the reviews and it said it was a terrific book for undergraduates. To put it simple, they must mean a physics major because this book is difficult to understand. I know before I bought the book the subject itself can be difficult and in inexperienced student may be overwhelmed.

Now it lets me know how some people who view the math problems on Constructor’s Corner can see the equation and not having a math background may not fully understand the equations. The thing to remember is that this is normal. When learning something new and reading a source from someone who has a great knowledge of the subject, the material may be put into an advanced way. Remember even though the material is difficult, how it is presented also determines how it is going to be understood. Some math books are vague and expect the reader to understand how a problem is simplified. Others are simple explaining every step.

What do you do when you don’t understand. Simple you read the entire section. The more understanding you get the better. If you stop reading you don’t learn anything. Part of the fun of a science is that it can’t be mastered overnight. It adds prestige to the position.

I often imagine how a great scientist an Einstein or Edison would learn and approach a difficult subject. Note that we only know their accomplishments and not how they thought them through. But one advantage they had was they lived at a time where there was not assessments of intelligence or standardize tests. How does this help? Well as I imagine it Einstein or Edison would be intrigued by the though or invention without considerations of not being smart enough or thinking a task was too difficult. And books at the time where more difficult to understand because they weren’t broken down for the average reader. If either had stopped the World would have lost a lot of good knowledge.

I think a lot of education in high school and elementary schools have students take assessment test after assessment test. It is a test of rather the schools are meeting standards. But there is a lot wrong in my humble opinion. First if you want to identify the gifted students, let them use their gifts in the classroom. Secondly you are going to identify the students who tested poorly, but is that necessary if you aren’t going to teach them problem solving techniques that they can understand and still be challenged.

The entire problem in school is that the entire class moves at the same pace. How come in one of the most creative classes such as art, a teacher gives everyone the same instruction and gives a certain amount of time for the students to work then the students go pack to the table and begin working at their own pace? Why do we only do this in art?

Well on Constructor’s Corner I was going to work on video training models in math. I hit one problem though. That is the fact that I can’t teach. Well at least not very well. I played back one of the videos I made and the lecture was there, but my speaking was too hard to follow. I mean comprehension wise, and not difficulty. I am going to keep trying and hopefully cover the fundamentals of the math I post on Constructor’s Corner.

But until the principals realize that every class should be taught like art... May the Creative Force be with You