Blog Chapter 2

A running man drops a ball. Which path does the ball take as it falls to ground, path A, B, or C? When this question was asked of sixth-grade students in Boston schools, only 3 percent answered A, the right answer; the others were evenly divided between B and C. Even high school students did not do well: of forty-one students who had just studied Newtonian mechanics for a month and a half, only 20 percent got the right answer; the others were almost equally divided between B and C(Norman 37)

When I saw the diagram, it made perfect sense, but I guess I can see how the students mess that up. But three percent? And only 20 percent in high school? I guess it proves the author's point about people getting a conception in their brains; it's not that important to them whether they're right or wrong, it just matters if they have an answer or not. I studied physics as a junior, and I liked it, so this example was interesting for me. I like how the author uses different examples like this to prove his points.

Bibliography

1. Norman, Donald. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books, 1988.