Re: Energy, etc (fwd)

[Leigh Palmer <palmer@SFU.CA>]

At 5:58 AM -0700 8/10/99, Ludwik Kowalski wrote:

> Too abstract for an elementary physics course where we
> first define F, then W, then KE, then ... etc. "Parameters
> which define the state of the system" would be hard to
> make meaningful at that level. There is no system, only
> balls and walls, and air, and bicycles, and water, etc.
> Kids are mostly concrete-operational.

Nonsense! Every kind of energy is abstract. "The parameters
which define the state of a system" necessarily include the
velocities of balls and bikes. *Everything* is a system and
most things are parts of other systems.

If kids haven't progressed beyond concret operational they
are not yet ready for a concept like energy. Bill Nye is
not doing them any good at all (and I doubt he will do the
brighter ones any good, either).

Leigh