Five Frequently Fatal Freshman Physics Fantasies

[Catria]

The Fantasy of the Miracle Finish
The Fantasy of the Soft Hearted Professor
The Fantasy that College is a Simple Extension of High School
The Fantasy that Weak Areas Won’t Be Tested
and
The Fantasy that Passing is More Important than Learning

The soft-hearted professor fantasy usually works best when you have actual grounds for complaining about a miscarriage of justice so that may also be an indictment of the instructor's grading skills (or the TAs') if it actually works. Especially when your miscarriage of justice is about using an alternate method compared to the posted solution when no method was specified in the statement.

Perhaps those in whom it persists most either had high school teachers that are prone to giving extra credit assignments on a whim or prone to miscarriages of justice in grading.

About passing being more important than learning: it often seems that good grades are often valued more than actual learning by some parties. Law school, med school being the best examples I know of such parties (and also allied healthcare professions, like optometry), and also a few employers. So it's not simply "passing" but also "grades" being more important than learning.

Like in analyzing alternating current circuits, I think it us possible to get an A yet not know the electron doesn't jump across the capacitor plates.

Even though I am otherwise a decent (and prompt) grader, because I feel as if grading promptness makes the student learning more efficient, I often assume that a rigorous mathematical derivation will enhance students' understanding and hence put a lot of weight on the math (to the point, perhaps, of being accused of being too hung up on the "algebra" by the thermo instructor I graded homework and tests for).

My third semester of college I took an intermediate level microeconomics class where the professor insisted on using lots of math. I found that I could simply setup the optimization problem, solve it with Lagrange multipliers, and pop out the answer. Repeat. I learned essentially no economics but got an good grade.

Perhaps that particular instructor insisted on using lots of math because he feels that conceptual knowledge is best gained with a thorough understanding of the math behind it. Don't get me wrong, conceptual knowledge alone can only bring one so far. After all, quantitative skills (physics being just one) are best learned through practice.

And I am often tempted to teach a physics course while insisting on the mathematical aspect of solving the problems because 1) intuition is often fallible and 2) practical usage of the material often seems to be a matter of doing the math (or otherwise going through the motions) properly.

The fantasy that the learning process should not feel uncomfortable or frustrating at any time, so if it does, do something else. Actually, learning typically does have a phase that feels uncomfortable and confusing, possibly even frustratingly so, but this is a normal phase that must be persevered through and not given up on, to reach the payoff when the "light bulb" finally goes on.

I also heard the opposite of that, albeit it seems to form up at a higher level: the fantasy that the learning process should feel uncomfortable or frustrating at all times or else you are not actually learning. It can be frustrating but it doesn't have to always be the case.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

The Fantasy that "Passing is More Important than Learning" Somehow Translates Into Grades Not Being Important

The Fantasy That a Miracle Reference Letter Will Make Up for Years of Mediocre Results

The Fantasy that You're Going to be the Next Einstein

The Fantasy that the Courses You Chose This Semester Will Determine Your Career

These are awesome observations, but I expect they are more common in 2nd to 4th year Physics courses than in the 1st year sequence.

With respect to the balance between passing and learning, it is natural for students to approach a grade with a grade goal and presume that achieving that grade goal means adequate learning has happened. However, under the pressure and time squeeze of a semester, they often are tempted to take the path of least resistance while trying to pass or reach their grade goal. My experience in the introductory courses is that this usually includes abandoning the idea of doing all the homework and then often leads to some combination of blame shifting, academic dishonesty, and arguing about grades.

Teachers bear the burden of designing grading policies and graded events to maintain as close a correspondence as possible between grades received and real learning. For courses that are essential pre-requisites for downstream courses, I always felt a useful assessment of the correspondence between grades and leaning in my courses was to consider how well grades in my course predicted student success in the first try of a downstream course. I thought an A in my course should predict at least a 90% chance of success, a B at least 80%, a C at least 70%. If I was passing students who were unprepared (or underprepared) for downstream courses, it was my fault.

 

[greswd]

Like fantasy that you could excel in all courses while having a serious relationship with an opposite gender?

its not possible to study and sex at the same time?

 

[greswd]

Where I'm from, hardly anyone falls for the first four fantasies, but nearly everyone falls for the last one.

 

[Vanadium 50]

its not possible to study and sex at the same time?

The books kind of get in the way.

 

[blue_leaf77]

its not possible to study and sex at the same time?

When you aim for the top position in the final ranking in all courses you take, time management becomes very crucial. At the same time, your partner deserves your (almost) full time care and attention as you both have agreed to lead a serious relationship.

 

[Ken G]

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy...