8 Preliminaries
tons of barley with a market value of~vand a profit margin ofq?
Tolearnthis expression (for yes, this is a force law of nature and one that we very much must
learn this semester) we have to learn what the symbols stand for –qis the charge of a point-like
object in motion at velocity~vin a magnetic fieldB~, andF~ is the resulting force acting on the
particle. We have to learn that the×symbol is thecross product of evil(to most students at any
rate, at least at first). In order to get agut feelingfor what this equation represents, for the directions
associated with the cross product, for the trajectories it implies for charged particles moving in a
magnetic field in a variety of contexts one has tousethis expression to solve problems,seethis
expression in action in laboratory experiments that let you prove toyourself that it isn’t bullshit
and that the world really does have cross product force laws in it. You have to do your homework
that involves this law, and be fully engaged.
The learning process isn’t exactly linear, so if you participate fully in the discussion and the
doing while going to even the most traditional of lectures, you have an excellent chance of getting
to the point where you can score anywhere from a 75% to an 85% in the course. In most schools,
say a C+ to B+ performance. Not bad, but not really excellent. A fewstudents will still get A’s –
they either work extra hard, or really like the subject, or they have some sort of secret, some way
of getting over that barrier at the 90’s that is only crossed by those that really do understand the
material quite well.
Here is the secret for gettingyourselfover that 90% hump, even in a physics class (arguably one
of the most difficult courses you can take in college), even if you’renota super-genius (or have never
managed in the past to learn like one, a glance and you’re done):Work in groups!In fact, areally
good course (in my opinion) is one where the entire learning process isorganized around student
teams, basically carefully contructed, semi-permanent groups where each member is at least partly
responsible for the effective learning of all the team members, not just themselves!
That’s it. Nothing really complex or horrible, just get together with your friends who are also
taking the course and do your homeworktogether. In a well designed physics course (and many
courses in mathematics, economics, and other subjects these days) you’ll havesomeaspects of the
class, such as a recitation or lab, where you arerequiredto work in groups/teams, and the teams
and team activities may be highly structured or freeform.
“Studio” or “Team Based Learning” for teaching physics have eveninterleaved the lecture itself
with team-based active learning, soeverythingis done in teams. This makes it itnearly impossible
to be disengaged and sit passively in class waiting for learning to “happen”. It also yields measureable
improvements (all things being equal) on at least some objective instruments for measurement of
learning, although (long story) measuring learning is a lot harder than you might think...
If you take charge of your own learning, though, you will quickly seethat inanycourse, however
it is formally organized and taught,you can study in a group! This is true even in a course where
“the homework” is to be done alone by fiat of the (unfortunately ignorant and misguided) instructor.
Just study “around” the actual assignment – assignyourselvesproblems “like” the actual assignment
- most textbooks have plenty of extra problems and then there is the Internet and other textbooks –
and do them in a group, then (afterwards!) break up and do your actual assignment alone. Note that
if you use a completely different textbook to pick your group problems from and do them together
beforelookingat your assignment inyourtextbook, you can’t even be blamed if some of the ones
you pick turn out to be ones your instructor happened to assign.
Oh, and not-so-subtly – give the instructor a (link to a) PDF copy ofthis book (it’s as free for
instructors as it is for students, after all, just a click away on the Internet). Who knows? Maybe
they will give some of these ideas a try!
Let’s understand in more detailwhyworking on hard problems in teams often has a dramatic
effect on learning. What happens when a team works together? Well,a lot ofdiscussionhappens,