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Confused Students
The Problems with Physics 7 Series at UC Davis
To: UC Davis Physics Department
By: Sukhtaz Dhaliwal (Marcus)
Word Count: 1209
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Dear UCD Physics Department,
I am writing to you to address the shortcomings of the Physics 7 Series. As a student who has
completed the series I am able to offer a perspective that may be lacking. I believe that the intention of
the program is pure, and if it were run in a way consistent with its goals the program would be
absolutely amazing. However, that is not the case, and the only thing that the seven series achieves is
creating frustrated students that lack a mastery of physics. With some restructuring and updates to
technology the program should have no problem keeping up its promises. The Physics 7 Series is
structured in such a way that students do not properly learn critical thinking.
The Discussion Labs, or DLs, fail to give students a hands-on experience with physics. There are
very few actual experiments. Experiments that are available are quite redundant to the point where it
feels like the activity for the current day is the same one that was done the session before. For example,
in Physics 7a there was a portion where every experiment revolved around using a spring attached to a
mass. At first students loved it, it was engaging and hands on, but after the third week of spring-mass
experiments students become bored and stop caring. The spring-mass system is an excellent way to
explain the concept, but apathetic students are not conducive to a good learning environment. If the
same concept is going to be taught for multiple sessions there should be many different exercises as
well. This has a twofold effect; firstly students are engaged, and secondly students learn to apply a
concept to many situations.
In certain cases even when there are interesting experiments the technical equipment required
is heavily outdated. There are wires with frayed connections, voltmeters with blown fuses, and
electromagnets that can no longer run a current through them. Once the students realize they cannot
run the experiment their excitement quickly fades. How can a top research university, with cutting edge
equipment, expect students to learn with equipment that is over ten years old? The ultimate goal of
any class is for students to be able to apply what they have learned to their future occupations. In DL
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they learn to do so by using the equipment, but if the equipment does not work properly this essential
learning does not occur. It is a disservice to the students to not provide them with these necessary skills.
Often time’s students spend their time in DL looking at a packet that guides them through
impossibly difficult problems they must solve in a small group. It allows students to get help from each
other, and improves the learning experience. At least that is how it should be. The problem with this is
usually there are very few students in the entire class that understand how to do a specific problem.
Usually questions are poorly worded, and the wording itself causes the confusion. My TA for 7A put the
questions in his own words for most activities, and that instantly cleared up most confusion. However,
he should not have to do that; the questions should be clear from the start. There was an even more
central problem with the questions besides clarity; they were too complicated. For most of the later
activities in DL the TA had to go to each individual group to clear up confusion, which took a
disproportionate amount of time, but that’s the way he has to do it. Every group has to get an answer
up on the board before the class can move on, and if he tries to just lecture on the subject that’s not
how it’s supposed to go so he gets in trouble.
Inconsistency among TAs causes a class that is completely inconsistent in competence. There
are some TAs that have been teaching for years and are amazing. On the other hand there are new TAs
that do not have the slightest clue how to teach a class, they are smart people, but they cannot teach
well. This issue likely stems from the fact that TAs are required to take a class on how to TA, but they
only attend for one hour each week. How can they learn how to best teach five hours of material in just
one? In the end the students suffer for the shortcomings of the TA as everyone has to take the same
test. It is unfair to believe all of these students are properly prepared due to these inconsistencies. Some
may argue that lecture provides a chance for everyone to catch up and clarify confusing concepts. This
however, is simply not the case.
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Lecture is often times a quick summary of concepts that were covered in DL and those that will
be covered. Often times the professor will talk about the basic concepts and write down the relevant
equations for the problems. However, there is not enough time to go in depth into the problem solving
process. Students just end up memorizing equations, but do not learn the critical thinking required to
solve the problems. The critical thinking is the most important concept to learn, because anybody can go
online and look up an equation, but how to apply that equation has to be taught. Professors want to be
able to teach these skills, but it is simply impossible to go in depth on so much information in only an
hour and twenty minutes a week. I understand there is no way a professor can cover everything, but
given the proper time they will be able to cover a whole lot more.
Often times the required text book was referred to as the course notes, and that is with good
reason. It seems like a set of notes taken in class. It is full of fact after fact of information with almost no
elaboration. The books for the 7A and 7B portion also completely lack any form of practice problems,
and contain few to no examples. Physics problems are mostly math based. Imagine a math class that
had a text book that only talked about concepts and had no examples or problems. It is unfathomable.
Now I understand it is a gross simplification to say that physics and math are almost the same concept,
but the point stands. Students cannot be expected to solve problems without proper practice.
The Physics 7 Series needs significant restructuring. There is very little consistency in teaching
ability across TA’s, and there is not enough lecture time to make up for this deficiency. Students are
expected to use a textbook that offers little explanation, and lab material that is too awkwardly worded
for them to understand. All of these factors make it so that students are not learning as well as they
could be. UC Davis is a top ranked public university, and as such it is the job of everyone to make sure
that students have all the resources they need for optimum learning. I for one do not want these
confused students going out into the world, because then people will begin questioning the legitimacy
of this great university, and all of its wonderful programs.
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Best Regards,
Sukhtaz Dhaliwal