Re: Re[3]: History of X-Rays

[Franz Schoenhofer <schoenho@via.at>]

At 18:28 19.01.1999 -0600, you wrote:
>     "Protecting their toys" isn't the issue.  Teaching someone to think 
>     for him/herself is the issue. 
>     
>     People are beginning to believe that "surfin' the internet" is 
>     synonymous with research. That's why Radsafe gets questions along 
>     the lines of "My professor gave me an assignment to find out about 
>     XYZ; You guys are the experts...what's the answer?"  Then the 
>     responses are piled together, regurgitated, and called a research 
>     paper.  For those who are uninterested in expending effort, this 
>     can be done without even coming close to comprehending the 
>     material, and a lot of people are becoming very good at it.
>     
>     The internet is a source for quick answers of highly variable 
>     reliable (Radsafers of all people should know that!).  For those 
>     who know how to separate good information from garbage, it's a 
>     valuable tool. Those who know how to think for themselves can 
>     increase their knowledge with it.
>     
>     But let's not kid ourselves that cruising web pages is "education", 
>     or that it is teaching useful learning skills.  That's sort of like 
>     trying to obtain a degree in medicine by watching old episodes of 
>     M*A*S*H.
>     
>     For those who don't yet know how to learn on their own (which 
>     unfortunately may include students all the way up to 
>     college/university level), I agree fully with Ms. Weiner's 
>     recommendation - tell them to go to the library, go to class and 
>     pay attention to the instructor, take notes, STUDY for crying out 
>     loud (now there's an unpopular word).  Otherwise, all the "sharing" 
>     of information in the world is just someone else doing their work 
>     for them, which I believe is Ms. Weiner's concern (or to use her 
>     exact words: "It's one thing to answer a specific question, and 
>     another to be asked to do the legwork."  I REALLY don't think she's 
>     concerned that if she provides someone information, they might one 
>     day know more than she does!) 
>     
>     
>     Vincent King
>     vincent.king@doegjpo.com
..................................................


Dear Vincent,

I fully appreciate your comment, I really like it and I suppose I do not
need to remind you on our conversation not so long ago in a beautiful Utah
landscape...... I have been a teacher of chemistry at high school a long
time ago and I never gave my pupils the solution of questions, but when I
felt they really were interested I gave them guidance and even brought to
them books and papers, from which they could derive the solution for their
questions - if they really worked hard to understand them. I think they
succeeded well and learned a lot about how to solve problems in the real
world, not only in chemistry. They were all very nice girls and one of them
had recently a chance to take bloody revenge for my difficult chemistry
lectures - she cut open my left hand and has practically healed me from my
carpal tunnel syndrome by her surgery. The time of my teaching has been
almost thirty years ago, but my former pupils still think that my way of
teaching chemistry has given them not so much knowledge about chemistry,
but rather how to solve problems in may different fields. This is in my
opinion the dream any scientific lecturer should adhere to......

Thanks Vincent, for the VIP tour you gave me and my oldest boy and for the
informations I received not only from you, but from other really competent
collegues there. Please give my regards to everybody who contributed to our
visit.


Best wishes

Franz


Franz Schoenhofer
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Vienna
Austria
Tel.: +43-1-495 53 08
Fax.: same number
mobile phone: +43-664-338 0 333
e-mail: schoenho@via.at

Office:
Hofrat Dr. Franz Schönhofer
Federal Institute for Food Control and Research
Department of Radiochemistry
Kinderspitalg. 15
A-1095 Vienna
Austria
Tel.: +43-1-40 491 520
Fax.: +43-1-40 491 540
e-mail: schoenhofer@baluf.via.at
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