Is this fair or not?

For instance, if you asked him in front of the class, or were impolite in any way, it might explain his unwillingness to discuss it with you.

My advice would be to make an appointment to talk with him outside of class and ask him to show you what you did “wrong”. Many teachers have egos just like anyone else and if you embarrassed or challenged him, he may have just reacted in the moment.

Take the time to go see him again and make sure to let him know that you are not trying to prove him wrong, but rather you just want to make sure you are learning this correctly because the book has confused you. Taking the pressure off of him may open him up enough to take a second look.

A good teacher will then correct their own mistakes or maybe you’ll find that his explanation is valid. Either way, it’s worth a shot.

I would approach it by letting him know that you weren’t trying to say he was wrong, you were wondering why his answer was right. Explain that you weren’t trying to make him look bad in front of the class; rather, you were confused that his answer contradicted the book, and you want to know why the book was wrong and he’s right. Whatever you do, don’t approach him in a way that could make him defensive – you may want to even apologize for possibly offending him – and make it clear that you just want to learn from him and understand how he got that answer. Why isn’t it justifiable?

He’s your teacher – he’s supposed to be teaching you the concepts behind the information, as well as the information. If you don’t understand what he’s teaching for some reason, you have a right to ask him – and as your teacher, he has a responsibility to explain it in a way that makes more sense to you.

This seems unfair, but maybe you did not understand a subtle difference between the question and the facts in the book. (Some teachers like to ask trick questions so that no one gets a perfect test score.)

Let’s assume you understand both.

The book could be out of date, but it’s rare for science to change its conclusions. (Some “facts” in astronomy books have been recently proven to be wrong.)

Let’s assume the book is not out of date.

Most schools have a department chairperson or a principal-level supervisor of teachers, like a dean. Bring your question about the science subject to that person and say your teacher did not want to give you an answer. Bring your text book and your test paper. Ask for the answer. If that person does not know what’s up, ask if they can intervene and persuade the teacher to explain how you got the question wrong. Just say you want to learn the facts. Don’t act too angry.

Good luck.

The other side of it is that your teacher could have been wrong and embarassed that you called him on it. Try to put yourself in this situation…he is incredibly intelligent (he has a PH.D.) and his student showed that he was mistaken, probably in the middle of class or at a time where didn’t have a chance to speak with you…and you persisted. You probably wouldn’t have reacted well either.

Go talk to him during a prep period or when he isn’t busy and ask him to explain it to you. If he still insists he is right, go to your principal. Or let it go.

“don’t have to believe the teacher because science is proven, there’s no need to believe it. It’s just the truth”

And the truth is what counts. Feel good that you want to seek truth.

It looks like this guy does not know and is trying to avoid the confrontation. Why don’t you post your question and answer here on yahoo answers in the physics section and see what people here have to say?