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A Glance At The Showmanship Of Physics, John E. Savage

Honors Theses

"Teachers should present dramatic demonstrations of scientific principles and involve students in them. They should dispense fewer facts, ask more questions, and stir the intellect. Then the students will puzzle out the answers and remember them," says Professor Julius Sumner Miller of El Camino College in Southern California. "Remember this! If you're dead, and the text book is dead, you'll have dead students."

The classic example of the intellect being stirred by dramatic demonstrations took place in London when Sir Humphrey Davey gave the Christmas Lectures. Believe it or not, people paid to hear these lectures dealing with natural· physical …