Reasoning in Physics: The Part of Common Sense

`Viennot and colleagues at Université 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