Get Free Shipping on orders over $79
Reasoning in Physics : The Part of Common Sense - Laurence Viennot

Reasoning in Physics

The Part of Common Sense

By: Laurence Viennot

Hardcover | 31 August 2001

At a Glance

Hardcover


$169.00

or 4 interest-free payments of $42.25 with

 or 

Ships in 5 to 7 business days

For a meaningful understanding of physics, it is necessary to realise that this corpus of knowledge operates in a register different from natural thought. This book aims at situating the main trends of common reasoning in physics with respect to some essential aspects of accepted theory. It analyses a great many research results based on studies of pupils and students at various academic levels, involving a range of physical situations. It shows the impressive generality of the trends of common thought, as well as their resistance to teaching. The book's main focus is to underline to what extent natural thought is organised. As a result of this mapping out of trends of reasoning, some suggestions for teaching are presented; these have already influenced recent curricula in France.
This book is intended for teachers and teacher trainers principally, but students can also benefit from it to improve their understanding of physics and of their own ways of reasoning.
Industry Reviews
`Viennot and colleagues at Universite Denis Diderot (France) clearly demonstrate the value of didactics--the science of teaching, or pedagogy. Their book is based on surveys involving students at various education stages, from secondary school to the university. They carefully chronicle the many twists and turns of common sense or natural reasoning and seek out how best to cultivate a habit of scientific thought. Among many other results, they find a strong natural tendency for students to materialize the objects of physics, to consider quantities as intrinsic characteristics of objects, to apply causal linear reasoning, and to spuriously neglect extra variables. Viennot and colleagues analyze such reductionist tendencies in detail and recommend that multifunctional dependencies be introduced early. They indicate that less emphasis on formulae, combined with a better balance of qualitative and quantitative reasoning skills, would cultivate ways of thinking that provide greater coherence and reliability. They end the book with a plea for the teaching of reasoning in physics. Graduate students through professionals.'
T. Eastman, formerly University of Maryland in Choice, April 2002

Other Editions and Formats

Paperback

Published: 30th November 2001

More in Physics

The Breath of the Gods : The History and Future of the Wind - Simon Winchester
A Short History of Nearly Everything 2.0 - Bill Bryson

RRP $36.99

$29.75

20%
OFF
The Art of Electronics : 3rd edition improved - Paul Horowitz

RRP $171.95

$125.75

27%
OFF
The Future Loves You : How and Why We Should Abolish Death - Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston
Quantum 2.0 : The Past, Present, and Future of Quantum Physics - Paul Davies
A Brief History Of Time : From Big Bang to Black Holes - Stephen Hawking
Introduction to Quantum Mechanics : 3rd edition - David J. Griffiths

RRP $109.95

$91.75

17%
OFF
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry - Neil deGrasse Tyson

RRP $31.95

$26.75

16%
OFF
Redox-active Polymers for Energy Storage and Medical Devices - Narendra Pal Singh Chauhan
Univariate Families of Distributions - Muhammad Qaiser Shahbaz

RRP $110.00

$96.75

12%
OFF
Univariate Families of Distributions - Muhammad Qaiser Shahbaz

RRP $326.00

$280.99

14%
OFF
Conceptual Integrated Science : 3rd Edition - Jennifer Yeh

RRP $143.80

$113.99

21%
OFF
Implementing R for Statistics - Christophe  Chesneau

RRP $180.95

$165.75