While most teachers and students were relaxing, a team of
physicists spent their summer vacation modeling the physics of
learning. They represented the interactions between students and
teachers with a set of equations similar to those that describe
magnetism in materials like iron. The results, which appear in
the 10 September print issue of PRL, are consistent with data on
student learning, but can equations convey the complexities of
the classroom? Some educational specialists remain unconvinced.
To simulate the classroom environment, Clelia Bordogna and
Ezequiel Albano of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied
Physical Chemistry in La Plata, Argentina, used a so-called
Ising model similar to those that describe magnetism in
materials. According to the model, a classroom behaves a lot
like a piece of iron: Individual students play the role of
atoms, and their knowledge of a subject is similar the atoms’
magnetic orientations. The teacher behaves like an external
magnetic field trying to align the student