- #1
Cruikshank
- 82
- 4
A short word for "acceleration" (pedagogy)
I tutor physics, and I am good at explaining to students what acceleration is. I teach them to
disambiguate kinds of motion--because before studying physics, most people get by without
separating velocity and acceleration as concepts. I know how to teach it. However, I think it is
a lot harder than it needs to be. I am being hampered by language.
Just to repeat: I am not asking how to teach the concept of acceleration. I'm on it.
Acceleration is hard to talk about because we lack short words for it. "Acceleration" is five
syllables, and most of the alternatives are several words long. "going faster and faster" is seven
syllables. "Picking up speed" is better, but then you have to worry about signs while constructing
your sentence, "speeding up" and "slowing down" and "turning" of course.
I often tell students that acceleration is when you "speed up, slow down, or turn." That is six
syllables, barely longer than "acceleration" itself, but it is also six *words.* I'd rather not fill up
my students' "7 plus or minus 2" buffer with a single concept.
Discussion is convoluted. Very often, students will use common words that refer to velocity, in
trying to talk about acceleration. They talk about how "fast" it is accelerating, for example, and
confuse that with how fast it is going--which really could mean a number of things. See the
problem?
I've been trying to brainstorm new words for acceleration. We need noun, verb, and adverb
forms at least. They should be short, preferably one or two syllables. I am not averse to making
up a new word, but I'd rather not be the only one in the world using it and end up confusing my
students.
So I ask: has this been discussed before? Are there better terms out there already, struggling
for recognition? If not, does anyone have suggestions?
Here's one of my attempts, just to clarify what I mean: Zoom.
"The rock is not just falling, it's zooming." "F is proportional to the zoom, not the speed."
High zoom, low zoom, small zoom, negative zoom.
"How high is it? Okay, how fast is it going? Okay, how fast is it zooming?" (You see the
temptation to use "fast" for it?) "How high is the zoom? How big is the zoom? How much is
the zoom?"
"If it isn't zooming, it's in equilibrium. If it isn't moving, it's in static equilibrium. If it's moving
but not zooming, it's in dynamic equilibrium."
I've tried to come up with others but so far that's in the lead. Is there are good short word for
acceleration in some other language, not too hard to pronounce, that English could steal? I
suspect the problem is universal as languages are older than physics, but it would be nice to be
wrong, and there would be automatic acceptance of the new term by some.
Ideas?
I tutor physics, and I am good at explaining to students what acceleration is. I teach them to
disambiguate kinds of motion--because before studying physics, most people get by without
separating velocity and acceleration as concepts. I know how to teach it. However, I think it is
a lot harder than it needs to be. I am being hampered by language.
Just to repeat: I am not asking how to teach the concept of acceleration. I'm on it.
Acceleration is hard to talk about because we lack short words for it. "Acceleration" is five
syllables, and most of the alternatives are several words long. "going faster and faster" is seven
syllables. "Picking up speed" is better, but then you have to worry about signs while constructing
your sentence, "speeding up" and "slowing down" and "turning" of course.
I often tell students that acceleration is when you "speed up, slow down, or turn." That is six
syllables, barely longer than "acceleration" itself, but it is also six *words.* I'd rather not fill up
my students' "7 plus or minus 2" buffer with a single concept.
Discussion is convoluted. Very often, students will use common words that refer to velocity, in
trying to talk about acceleration. They talk about how "fast" it is accelerating, for example, and
confuse that with how fast it is going--which really could mean a number of things. See the
problem?
I've been trying to brainstorm new words for acceleration. We need noun, verb, and adverb
forms at least. They should be short, preferably one or two syllables. I am not averse to making
up a new word, but I'd rather not be the only one in the world using it and end up confusing my
students.
So I ask: has this been discussed before? Are there better terms out there already, struggling
for recognition? If not, does anyone have suggestions?
Here's one of my attempts, just to clarify what I mean: Zoom.
"The rock is not just falling, it's zooming." "F is proportional to the zoom, not the speed."
High zoom, low zoom, small zoom, negative zoom.
"How high is it? Okay, how fast is it going? Okay, how fast is it zooming?" (You see the
temptation to use "fast" for it?) "How high is the zoom? How big is the zoom? How much is
the zoom?"
"If it isn't zooming, it's in equilibrium. If it isn't moving, it's in static equilibrium. If it's moving
but not zooming, it's in dynamic equilibrium."
I've tried to come up with others but so far that's in the lead. Is there are good short word for
acceleration in some other language, not too hard to pronounce, that English could steal? I
suspect the problem is universal as languages are older than physics, but it would be nice to be
wrong, and there would be automatic acceptance of the new term by some.
Ideas?