Abstract
In this opinion piece (based on personal teaching experience and independent study of the literature) I outline how we as teachers deliberately confuse our students during their physics degrees. I explain how the passing through this confused state can be thought of as a rite of passage for students, and suggest how a greater awareness of this can assist our teaching.
Highlights
In this opinion piece I outline how we as teachers deliberately confuse our students during their physics degrees
One way of considering the transition from eager fresher with simplistic ideas to complete graduand with a more advanced view of the world, and about to start knocking on the doors of the professional communities of practice as they embark on a PhD, is to consider the journey as a rite of passage, or, better said, a series of rites of passage, akin to those described in a broader anthropological context by van Gennep (1960)
Regardless of the quality of teaching within a physics department, the rites of passage a student goes through, three of which are outlined in this article, are not well delineated and I suspect this goes some way to producing low levels of student satisfaction
Summary
The transition from school to university learning is a difficult one. A student must get used to styles of teaching that are different from those provided in school and take control of their own learning in ways that have not been required before. The majority of students arrive ready for this challenge. They have developed a fledgling love of their chosen subject at A-level or equivalent and are keen to expand their knowledge and build on what they have learned before. What many do not realise (and may never do so explicitly) is that much of their degree is not knowledge building and adding layers to what they already know: rather it must involve completely discarding
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