Abstract
Research in physics education continues to develop compelling evidence that many students emerge from introductory physics courses with inadequate mastery of some of the most basic concepts and fundamental modes of reasoning. [McDermott (1984); Trowbridge and McDermott (1980), (1981); Axons (1983), (1984a), (1984b); Clement (1982); Fredette and Clement (1981); Minstrell (1982); Viennot (1979)]. Explanation, exposition, presentation, however lucid, are not sufficient to generate grasp and understanding (except, perhaps, in the upper few percent of the students), and conventional end-of-chapter problems and laboratory exercises do not provide adequate help. They leave too many students in a passive intellectual mode, expecting to learn through inculcation, and they fail to generate the kind of active mental engagement essential for learning. Many students, in fact, fail to break through to mastery of certain concepts and reasoning processes unless they are led to articulate the ideas in their own words in a sequence of Socratic dialog.
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Arons, A.B. (1986). Overcoming Conceptual Difficulties in Physical Science Through Computer-Based Socratic Dialogs. In: Weinstock, H., Bork, A. (eds) Designing Computer-Based Learning Materials. NATO ASI Series, vol 23. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-82654-2_2
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