Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Math, Science Disconnect
The first thing that the students have in physics is wave properties. Today I gave a presentation on light waves focusing on color, microwaves and cell phones; the purpose of the presentation was to identify connections between the classroom and daily life. In the next wave unit I think they'll cover light waves and the electromagnetic spectrum in more detail. It surprising how much math and science exist in a vacuum for most of the students. When the students have to use math in class they whine and complain about how their science class isn't their math class. They haven't done anything more complicated than arithmetic and basic algebra. This doesn't bode well for forces and motion where geometry is involved; the students might be so busy complaining about the math that they miss the physics. Can you learn physics without using math?
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Monisha,
I like your question: "Can you learn physics without using math?" This would be a great question to pose to the students. It would be interesting to read about their replies. What do they think physics is?
After this discussion, perhaps you could talk about and give them some simple examples from your work about how math and science are intertwined. Explain how various field of science are even inter-related. That would really get them thinking.
Only in high school do students think that each subject is separate. We used math and science in social studies. Students complained, but in life subjects aren't separated.
Carol Cramer
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