Students get a sense of realistic values for physical situations from texts, but more importantly from solving problems. Therefore, problems should use realistic values for quantities to provide needed practice. Unfortunately, some problems on tests and in textbooks do not use realistic values. Physical situations in electrostatics seem to be particularly problematic.
References
1.
Frederick
Reif
, “Teaching problem solving — A scientific approach
,” Phys. Teach.
19
, 310
–316
(May
1981
). 2.
Robert A.
Morse
, “Electrostatics with computer-interfaced charge sensors
,” Phys. Teach.
44
, 498
–502
(Nov.
2006
). 3.
4.
Halliday
, Resnick
, and Walker
, Fundamentals of Physics
, 5th ed. (John Wiley & Sons
, New York
, 1997
), p. 350
.5.
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1999/MariaPereyra.shtml (accessed April 2, 2015).
6.
Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
, 42nd ed., edited by Charles D.
Hodgman
(Chemical Rubber Publishing Co.
, Cleveland, OH
, 1960
), p. 2128
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2016
American Association of Physics Teachers
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