Finding Method in Madness

摘要

Have you ever heard that phrase, orsomething like it, from your students?As a young teacher, my instinctualresponse was to wince and wonderif they had been listening in class.Rather than searching for the methodto this madness, I would correct themby saying that "every falling objectexperiences the same acceleration,regardless of mass." This did not havethe desired effect on the students,however—they seemed to concludethat I was crazy, and moreover thatphysics just didn't make sense.