Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Fun With Student Errors, 2

The question (for the final unit exam in my HS engineering class) was,

Explain how magnets are used to make the speaker in a telephone work.

One of my brightest students - who has a fantastic sense of humor - saw me a few hours after the test. "Have you graded my test yet, Ms. Hat?" she asked.

"No, why?"

"Oh ... you'll know when you read it!" she replied with a mischievous smile.

The next day, I graded it. Apparently this student had neglected to study the chapter on how telephones work. She wrote:

Well, back in 1504 Alexander Graham Bell figured out that sound waves actually have metallic properties and therefore can be attracted by a magnet. So then the guy who invented the actual telephone figured out that the sound waves that humans are able to make have a very specific charge that can be attracted by a specific magnet. So that's the one they use in telephones. Just kidding! I have no idea how phone magnets work.

I laughed so hard that I wished I could give her credit.
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5 comments:

  1. I love it! Sounds like something my sister or I might have written in high school.

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