Goals and Objectives

This course includes many different topics, and you all have different pre-knowledge and experience It is natural that you will reach different levels after the course. Even if this applies to all teaching, it becomes very explicit in all courses involving the use of computers. The popular presentations of physics topics will also involve different type of learning depending on if you have already studied the topic "equation-wise" or not. In both cases I expect you to reach a conceptual, intuitive understanding of the physics involved. I also hope we can use the diversity as an asset in developing the material, trying to explain to each other, trying out the resulting material, etc.

I also hope you will get used to asking yourself the question "How do I know...?" Is it because the book / table says so? Because someone you trust told you? Because you have seen it with your own eyes? Because you can follow the mathematics / arguments leading to this conclusion? Or you just know? Obviously, we cannot question everything in life - we have to find a balance between "critique" and "accept" and sometimes apply a "provisional accept". This balance is something that everyone has to work out for themselves, develop and refine over the years and I think that your own balance will be reflected in your project work.

You may also want to think about the relation between science and our view of the world, see e.g. what von Wright writes about the "Crisis of Intelligibility"

On separate pages, I try to specify in more detail how I expect you to work and what I expect you to achieve in the different parts of the course. See also the FAQ list.


http://fy.chalmers.se/~f3aamp/VVV/goals.html
Ann-Marie Pendrill, Fysik, GU / CTH, 1997-05-31