Dr.Leonisa O. Bernardo

A Question About Space and Time

Dr. LEONISA O. BERNARDO is the current Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Southern Luzon State University. She obtained her Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of the Philippines Open University as a DOST-SEI scholar. Dr. Bernardo has a Master of Science Degree from the De La Salle University. A licenced chemical engineer, she has made intensive researches on the formulation of herbal bath soap from kamias fruit (K-GANDA), and thorough studies on Chemistry Education.

Vignettes are “little vines” or stories from the lives of scientists. They are historically correct but the details are fictional. Vignette is one means of integrating the history of science in science courses so that students could view science as a dynamic human process rather than a stagnant body of facts. Information is presented here in an entertaining and interesting manner to cultivate positive attitudes toward science. This vignette entitled “A Question About Space and Time” may be used as an introduction to the topic “Special Theory of Relativity.” It will help the students understand the connection between classical mechanics and the revolutionary concept of relativity and see how these concepts were discovered and developed. It also shows the making of a scientist and addresses the scientific attributes of one. Teachers are encouraged to write their own vignette that is relevant to their chosen topic and use it as a supplemental material in teaching. Vignette construction may be assigned as a project to make students appreciate the nature of science and develop their craft in writing.

Hi! You may call me Albert. I once dreamed of taking an engineering course, maybe because I grew at the sight of electrical apparatuses. Manufacturing them was my family business when we were still in Munich. Unfortunately I failed the examination I took in Zurich Polytechnic. I wonder if I will be able to pursue a career that will suit my interests. I continued my secondary education and luckily, I had excellent teachers and I enjoyed first-rate facilities in physics. This experience changed my plan and brought me to something else when I returned and studied in Zurich Polytechnic. In 1990 I graduated as a secondary school teacher of mathematics and physics.

STOP the story for discussion. Possible questions for discussion: What influences Albert in the choice of career in line with science? Do you consider Albert successful after all? Why? What characteristics make him such? At this point, does your description of Albert probably make one a scientist in the future?

Instead of practicing a teaching profession I obtained a post at the Swiss patent office in Bern. The work required careful attention while examining patent applications. It sharpened my analytical mind and my constant exposure to various inventions and discoveries enriched me with ideas. Although I had no chance of close contact with theoretician colleagues and of knowledge in scientific literature my thoughts about early scientists’ findings sustained my quest for knowledge.

Again, STOP the story for discussion. Possible questions for discussion: Do you think Albert made the right decision of working in a patent office instead of teaching in a secondary school? If you were Albert would you be able to sustain your interest in science?

I greatly admired Galileo for his bold support of the Copernican view of the moving Earth. I was fascinated by his work on mechanics of motion wherein he used pendulum and inclined planes to prove that motion did not require a force. His findings exactly opposed that of Aristotle’s beliefs that the Earth was the center of the universe and that motion required a force to initiate it.

Newton who was born several months after the death of Galileo started from what the latter has proven and the former developed his famous laws of motion. This completed the overthrow of the Aristotelian ideas that had dominated the thinking of the best minds for 2000 years.

It seems that science at the end of the nineteenth century looked back on a period of great progress. The theories developed had been very successful in explaining a wide range of natural phenomena.

Again, STOP the story for discussion. Possible questions for discussion: Could you cite some specific accomplishments of the three scientists mentioned here? How did the early scientists influence Albert as a promising scientist?

The ideas in my mind blossomed into three short papers which I wrote during my spare time. One of these papers explained a revolutionary theory that changed the whole conception of nature at the turn of the 20^th century. Let me tell you how I thought about it.

Once more I pondered on Newtonian mechanics describing how bodies change their position in space with time. I must admit that the concept of “position” and “space” confused me. While I was standing at the window of a railway carriage, which was traveling uniformly, I dropped a stone on the embankment. I saw the stone descents in a straight line. A pedestrian who was standing at the footpath said that he saw the stone fall in a parabolic curve.

So I asked, “Do the ‘positions’ traversed by the stone ‘lie in reality’ on a straight line or on a parabola?”

Again, STOP the story for discussion. Possible questions for discussion: What basic quantities are involved in describing the motion of an object? Are these quantities absolute? Answer the question asked by Albert at the last line?

What is meant here by motion “in space?” I proposed that the phrase “motion in space” be replaced by “motion relative to a practically rigid body of reference”. Instead of “body reference” let me use the term “system of coordinates”. Therefore, we say that the stone traverses a straight line relative to a system of co-ordinates rigidly attached to the carriage, but relative to a system of co-ordinates rigidly attached to the ground (embankment) the stone traverses a parabola. With this example it is clearly seen that there is no such thing as an independently existing trajectory, but only trajectory relative to a particular body of reference. This was the take off point of the more interesting concepts I have written about.

Again, STOP the story for discussion. Possible questions for discussion: Now, can you differentiate the classical mechanics of Newton from Albert’s new concept of mechanics in describing motion?

Let me take your imagination further through a “gedanken” experiment (which means thought experiment). I suggest that to understand the theory behind this, you must not rely on the intuitive concepts of time and space.

Suppose there are two identical clocks. One of the clocks is on a spaceship while the other remains on Earth. The man on the spaceship flashes a light and measures the time it takes the light to travel across and return after reflecting from a mirror. The observer on Earth observes the same process. But to this observer, the spaceship is moving. So the light travels the diagonal path in going across the spaceship, reflecting off the mirror, and returning to the sender. (See Figure 2.) Although the light travels at the same speed to this observer, it travels a greater distance. The two observers measure the time intervals required by light to travel across the spaceship.

Again, STOP the story for discussion. Possible questions for discussion: Will the two observers measure the same time intervals? Is time an absolute quantity?

Since light travels a greater distance as observed by the man on Earth, the time interval between the two events (the sending of the light, and its reception on the spaceship) is greater for the observer on Earth than for the observer on the spaceship. Let me simply state that: A moving clock run more slowly than a clock at rest. Time is actually measured to pass more slowly in any moving reference frame as compared to a clock at rest. So, I must say that time is not absolute. This is just one of the results of my special theory of relativity, and is known as time dilation. And I was known to all as EINSTEIN, the initiator of modern physics.

END OF THE STORY. Possible questions for discussion: Do you think the clocks are somehow at fault? Does the concept of time dilation violate our commonsense understanding of time? Is it hard for you to accept the concept of time dilation?

REFERENCES

Beiser, A. (1987). Concepts of Modern Physics. 4^th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill
Book company. 1-10.

Giancoli, D. (2007). Physics: Principles with Applications. 6^th ed. Singapore:
Prentice Hall International. 792-808.

Hewitt, P. (1993). Conceptual Physics. 7^th ed. New York: Harper Collins College
Publishers. 20-23.

1997 Grolier, Inc.

AUTHOR’S NOTES: Albert Einstein lived from 1879-1955. The three papers he wrote are the special theory of relativity, photoelectric effect, and statistical mechanics in Brownian motion. He continued the initial concept of the special theory of relativity into the general theory of relativity. His conclusions signal the birth of modern physics.

Scientific attitudes addressed by the vignette:

• Curiosity
• Empiricism
• Determinism
• Scientific manipulation
• Precision
• Respect for theory
• Thirst for knowledge
• Willingness to change one’s mind in response to evidence
• Suspension judgment
• Thrill of discovery
• Communication
• Accuracy
• Perseverance

Mary Jane Camarador

The Good, the Better,
and the Best Practices
in Information-Age Education

MARY JANE S. CAMARADOR teaches communication subjects at the SLSU. She finished her Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication degree at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. She currently pursues a post graduate degree in Communication Arts at the University of the Philippines, Los Baños. She is in her second year of teaching.

Best practices, like benchmarking, synergy, outsourcing, online and open-university learning, high and low product endings, and focal group discussions, is not just a globalized-economy, tech-heavy and an in-thing jargon. “Best practices” is a means to catalogue experiences from different sectoral and institutional partners. Best practices can be done through conferences, formal discussion, and as we presently experience heavy downpour of technological advances, this can also be done, especially and effectively, using the internet. Best practices topics and issues in education proliferate in the net. And though the net comes in handy in doing researches and instant book reviews, there couldn’t be any better than having your own Best-Practices and unabridged book to review the old-fashioned and pre-Best Practices age way—non-virtual, that is a book made with real pulp and paper.

There are some repackaged concepts and ideas that you can find in the book “Best Practices in Journalism Education in the Information Age Proceedings” which some may find a bit usual and ordinary—the internet, learning, journalism, etc. The book, edited by Violet B. Valdez, Executive Director of CFJ; Mark Vincent Escaler, Officer-in-Charge of the Ateneo’s Department of Communications; Chay Florentino Hofileña, veteran journalist and Program Director for post-graduate journalism program, also of the Ateneo; and Werner Von Busch, member of the CFJ Executive Board, explains the need for a whole new parameter in journalism education, that is, using the millennia tool for education, a.k.a. the internet.

The Konrad Adenauer Center for Journalism (CFJ ) at the Ateneo de Manila University is basically a training center for students all over Asia. The Jesuit cum Non-Government Organization institution offers degree and non-degree programs using methods in online learning. Its major concern is the development of Journalism Education in Asia—the rudiments of diverse culture, politics and economics that affects the very fiber of journalism. Its method capitalizes on the power of internet to facilitate virtual classrooms for students.

The book comprises four panels, all tackling different aspects about online education. The first panel, aptly titled “Breaching the Limits” discusses processes beyond norms in traditional education. It speaks about context during the first stage of online learning. The big difference of traditional classroom setting is being compared to a virtual classroom for a virtual teacher and virtual students. From all indications cited by the book, there are, expectedly, limitations and disadvantages of not having a face-to-face interaction, like how is the teacher-student relationship (read: pedagogy) quantifiably differs in a physical classroom compared to a virtual one.

The second panel—“Managing Participation” discusses how limitations such as the one cited above could be managed. It also describes and suggests maximization on the various internet-based technologies like electronic mails, discussion groups, and chat. But formal learning isn’t all about giving lessons and workshops, online or otherwise. Assessment and evaluation plays a critical role in education. This process was discussed in the third panel, “Assessing Performance” where it mainly deals with evaluating and monitoring the performance of net-based students.

Having worked for the academe as an instructor, determining the level of understanding for virtual students can be daunting to say the least. There are just too many factors that need to be considered. Language, both verbal and non-verbal, could pose a serious problem in evaluating online student’s understanding of a lesson or a project.

“Trends and Future” cites technology and education developments that can be indicated in online pedagogy. The last panel also discusses the challenges that an institution like CFJ will face in the continual coming of the Information Age.

Best Practices in Journalism Education in the Information Age: Proceedings is a rarity for teachers, instructors or professors undertaking and planning to undertake online learning. The book critically balanced the pros and cons and the ifs and buts of the globalized trend of internet-based learning.

The proceeding though it describes online teaching can also be useful in teaching communication theories because of the following reasons:

Communication theories deal with different theories under the seven traditions according to Craig: Rhetorical, Socio-Psychological, Cybernetics, Semiotics, Socio-Cultural, Critical and Phenomenological. Meaning, theories come from just about everything. This book can be magnified under some of the traditions like Cybernetics and Socio-Cultural traditions.

Second, a number of fresh insights and strategies were mentioned. A good reference material for teachers and students:

(a) Teacher-student relationship is compared to a master-apprentice relationship. The teacher is responsible to create a fair class interaction. But how would that be possible in the internet? It is also a challenge to the teacher to make the class discussions—discussion-boards or chats in online teaching—interesting or interactive.

(b) Since this is an online learning, emotional bond seems nil. For the traditional classroom setting, teacher meets and sees the students every meeting. The teacher can speak face-to-face, and be able to see the students’ non-verbal but equally meaningful signs. Virtual classroom is different. The teacher will not be able to see his students. There is no face-to-face (read: physical) interaction.

(c) The issue in diversity of culture. The teacher can have an international class in an online learning. Students from different nations or regions have different cultures. Time-zone can also be considered a valid issue for a global-classroom. But then again, business process outsourcing, more popularly known as call centers, proliferates in the country. Adjusting body clocks vis a vis time zones can be learned, ironically, in time.

Third, the dissimilarity of traditional teaching versus online teaching does not necessarily mean that one method is better than the other. Both have their own proverbial strengths and weaknesses. It is how or when or what to use which method, and in what context, that one can be better than the other.

Talk about being mobile frenzy in this SMS cum chat-age world, this book can be helpful: It can help students from different places and time zones share knowledge (best practices anyone?) in this new media and millenia. We can breach time. We do not need to hurry or be stuck in traffic, or as in my case, won’t be able to spend for transportation fares bloated by skyrocketing oil prices. With the help of this book—all the insights and information it gives—teaching and learning can be more interesting, exciting and more thought-provoking.

Reference

Valdez, Violet B. et. al. 2005. Best Practices in Journalism Education in the Information Age Proceedings. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University.