We were talking energy transformations
last week near the end of the Physics chapter on energy. During the discussion I asked an Honors Physics student
“What happens to the gasoline in your car?”
Silence
“I don’t know.”
New question to next student
“Why do you have to periodically replenish the gas tank?”
“Um.”
“It gets used?”
Question directed to another student
“OK. It gets used doing what?”
“It gets used up?”
“It’s converted from chemical potential energy to kinetic
energy.”
Next question to yet another student
“What actually happens to the gasoline in your car that
allows the conversion to KE?”
Still no answer.
Then a couple more queries to others in the class with no good response.
This happened in four separate Honors Physics
situations. All the while a small group of students in
each class had their hands in the air grunting like Horshack on a sweaty Brooklyn day since it was apparently the easiest question I could ever ask.
Seriously? At least 40% of my students didn’t know
that gasoline “burns” or “combusts” or “explodes” in an internal combustion
engine. I asked them later and they really were flummoxed.
Another Physics teacher observed a conversation in a Conceptual Physics class that was similarly distressing:
"Why can't we just put water in our gas tanks?"
"Yeah, water'd be better. It's everywhere."
"Why do we have to use gas anyway? It's too expensive."
... (the rest of the conversation makes my eyes bleed and will not be recorded here for the sake of my vision)
Mr. Mason observed in wonder as a substantial group of his students ridiculed the engineers of internal combustion engines and touted their genius invention of water powered automobiles.
Obviously they didn't know that gas burns in the engine. Or that water cannot.
Eventually he had to step in and start asking questions since he figured that somebody was going to put water in the gas tank and disable Mommy's car.
How is it possible that my top students don't know that fuel burns in engines? Bill Nye help us - didn't the Science Guy teach us all we need to know?
"Why can't we just put water in our gas tanks?"
"Yeah, water'd be better. It's everywhere."
"Why do we have to use gas anyway? It's too expensive."
... (the rest of the conversation makes my eyes bleed and will not be recorded here for the sake of my vision)
Mr. Mason observed in wonder as a substantial group of his students ridiculed the engineers of internal combustion engines and touted their genius invention of water powered automobiles.
Obviously they didn't know that gas burns in the engine. Or that water cannot.
Eventually he had to step in and start asking questions since he figured that somebody was going to put water in the gas tank and disable Mommy's car.
How is it possible that my top students don't know that fuel burns in engines? Bill Nye help us - didn't the Science Guy teach us all we need to know?
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