Mr. Miyagi and learning

So here I was in thermal physics class. The students were talking about the assigned homework and then asked: "can't we get some homework credit for this? Why are we even doing this?" Immediately in my head popped "wax on, wax off". This was the same situation Mr. Miyagi (from [The Karate Kid](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Karate_Kid)) was in with Daniel-san. Homework should not be done just for the points. Homework should help the students become more proficient at blocking blows from the test.

I really like the movie karate kid. Mr. Miyagi brings up some good points. How does Daniel-san learn about karate? Is it by sitting and listening to Miyagi? No, he learns by doing some stuff. At first Daniel-san does not see the point of the exercises, but in the end, he wins.

![200px Karate kid](http://scienceblogs.com/dotphysics/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/200px-kar…)

More like this

Remember that scene in 'Karate Kid' when Daniel-San walked in on Mr. Miyagi trying to catch a fly with a pair of chopsticks? In response to Daniel-San asking what the heck he was doing, Mr. Miyagi replied cryptically, "He who catch fly with chopstick can do anything." (Or something like that.) Oh…
Tons of folks have been writing to me this morning about [the BBC story about an idiot math teacher who claims to have solved the problem of dividing by zero][bbc-story]. This is an absolutely *infuriating* story, which does an excellent job of demonstrating what total innumerate idiots reporters…
An anonymous donor cashes in a $30 donation to ask: Homework solutions from intro physics through grad school physics are available online, and while working through Jackson and Goldstein problems can be miserable without some guidance, the temptation is there to plagiarize. When you teach, do you…