What to do if your professor is not much ''intelligent''?

Shackleford

If you're going to accuse someone of being wrong, you better make damn sure you're right. Post the question and work.

That's a life-lesson applicable to any area.

zketrouble

micromass: I agree, acting as a group as opposed to individually is much more effective.


And as Shackleford said you better be pretty sure you're right before making accusations, esp. if you want anybody to take you seriously ever again. You started the forum insinuating that your professor isn't all that bright, so if you're wrong this time that doesn't mean you won't be right next time. Be certain of what you are pushing for by asking other physics professors so that you don't burn your bridges; keep them intact for whenever any of your professors misgrade your assignments/exams.

thegreenlaser

By the title of your thread, I think the first thing you need to do is to stop seeing your teacher as stupid. I would bet that at some point you've stubbornly defended an answer you gave, only to realize later that you were wrong. Does that make you stupid? No, it makes you human. Realize that she's an intelligent person who might have made a mistake, but who also might be right. You'll get a lot further in solving the problem with that sort of attitude.

Ashuron

OK, new idea..
Do you know anyone who got the answer right?
Since the teacher may not be that stubborn if the whole class answered wrong..

mathwonk

are you saying you got the whole question wrong because of a disagreement over a minus sign?

flyingpig

Animals like wolves work in pacts...humans should too

twofish-quant

In life you have to learn when it's not worth the trouble. If college is supposed to prepare you for the outside world, then sometimes you have to learn to let things go. A lot of getting through life is to know which fights are worth it and which ones aren't.

symbolipoint

The course in which this troubling exercise occurs is Physics 1, and you say,

The class is in a learning situation in which students are developing critical thinking and learning conventions of problem descriptions and problem solving. Many students will be annoyed.

More than that, the B.S. degree in Engineering may not be everything about this instructor. What else was not stated but in fact included in her courses and experience? The mere degree title of Bachelor of Science does not always tell everything.

Bradwast88

Could you please post the problem and both your answer and her answer?

Headacheguy

I'm sorry for the title, I made the evaluation based on her lectures and the way she constructs/answers our quizzes.

I've had several conflicts with her before. Once was when she considered the correct significant figures wrong and that all of our answer should be in two/three decimal places. Another time was when she said that the equilibrant and the resultant vector are the same (both in direction and magnitude). In our first quiz she marked 25% of my answers wrong because I used the cartesian plane (I find it easier using the cartesian plane for my vectors) than a polygon vector diagram; the diagrams are essentially the same. I should have got 98% on that quiz if my diagram were checked, I let it slip than argue that time. But this time is worse. Midterm exam is a large chunk of our grade.

She also isn't good at teaching, she comes to class and reads the lecture from the textbook. Our class is supposed to be 6 hrs a week, meeting twice, 3 hours lecture, and 3 hrs lab. She only spends 2 hrs each meeting, she says she needs to catch the train.

I am sorry for my ranting. Really frustrated. I think it's just unfair that I get to spend my time studying the material in advance, before even classes had started, and then she just comes in class unprepared, not doing her part of the work.

Here's the question:

A 2 kg body is supported by a massless string. The body is accelerating downwards at a rate of 4.9 m/s^2. Calculate the tension on the string.

(It was pretty odd that this question is in the midterm exam and is worth 10 points.)

What I did was:
From F = ma:
T + (-mg) = -ma (Took the tension T as positive, therefore the weight -mg, is negative since the force is exerted on the opposite direction. The resultant force of this body is downwards, same direction with the weight, as stated in the question, -ma.)

T = mg - ma
T = 2 kg ( 9.8 m/s^2 - 4.9 m/s^2)
T = 9.8 N
T = 10 N


Her solution was a bit different because she chose the direction of the motion of the body as the positive direction. Either way, the answer should have been the same. Hence, the weight is positive, so is the direction of the resultant force, and the tension negative because it is on the upwards direction.

mg - T = ma
T = mg - ma
T = m (g - a) (This was where it went wrong, I think)
T = 2 kg [ 9.8 m/s^2 - (-4.9 m/s^2)] (The acceleration was negative because it was going "down", she explained)
T = 29.4 N (Again her answer was not in the correct significant figures.)


Most of my classmates had the same answer as mine.

Please forgive me if my solution is wrong.

Phrak

"It was a simple vector question where the gravity is referenced as positive and thus downward acceleration should be positive as well, however she insisted that it is negative because it is going ''down''."

"Referenced as positive" has no meaning. Positive what and in what coordinate system?

Doc Al

Nothing ambiguous about the question.

Perfectly correct.


Comically wrong. (Ask her how the tension would change if the acceleration were upward. Then ask her what the tension would be if the body were accelerating at 9.8 m/s^2 downward.)

I would indeed approach another professor. With discretion.

cristo

It sounds like the issue is more than just this one problem, in which case you should really go and talk to someone else in your department and express your concerns for the class.

As for the problem, your answer is correct (although I'd probably keep it as 9.8N).

Headacheguy

After I argue with the professor, I went stupid and decided to not pretend to listen anymore, (I usually study at home with MIT CW, because most of the time I can't understand her) read a novel from my phone.

She caught me and asked me to go out and not attend her lectures anymore, and to just see her on the final exam. She's mad at me, that's for sure.

Sidenote: Only 7 out of 51 passed the exam. Most of classmates can't/doesn't want to self-study.

Headacheguy

@Cristo: I answered 10 N because of the 2 kg measurement, only one significant figure.

Edit: @Phrak: I'm sorry if I was ambiguous with my terms. What I meant was that, our professor chose the downward direction as positive, hence it follows that the weight (sorry for using gravity) is positive.

@Doc_Al: It is impossible to argue with her, I doubt she has a clear understanding of the topic. Before (on the equilibrant, resultant issue), when I tried to argue from what I have read from my book about the definition of the term, she remarked that she doesn't care what I had read on my textbook.

Doc Al

Technically, you are correct. But I would not distract the issue away from the egregious physics error on her part by bringing up significant figures.

Headacheguy

Oh, right. Thanks, Doc Al. :)

Thanks everyone. I'm still undecided whether or not I would bring this up with another professor. I'm afraid she would get pretty mad at us. One thing I've realized is that sometimes you have to decide whether the ''right thing'', (technically) is the right thing to do (politics of academia; must obey authority).

Regards to the professor background issue: I've never had a professor with a Ph. D. I've never heard of a professor with a research Ph.D that teaches in the university, I know of two professors who has Ph.D. in education. The university has a student population of 50,000 undergrads.