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text: Physics:A Contemporary Perspective



Here's a suggestion for those of you who teach a calculus-based
introductory physics course. Randy Knight, of Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo,
has written a text which is based on results of physics education research.
It's called PHYSICS: A CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVE. It's available now in a
Preview Edition (softcover) from Addison-Wesley. I've got one here on my
desk. It's in 2 volumes, one for each semester. There are exercises and
problems at the end of each chapter, and there's also a workbook.

Here are some of the book's features (I'm reading the preface):
- a story line,
- starts from the concrete and moves to the abstract,
- uses multiple representations of processes, as Alan Van Heuvelen's ALPS kits
do (In fact, I hear that Alan Van Heuvelen is going to use this text for
his course at Ohio State U this year.)
- has explicit problem-solving strategies.
- "less is more" strategy

Randy Knight tested these materials for 2 years. (He was calling it
"Physics for the Year 2000".) His students' performance on assessment tools
such as the Force Concept Inventory has been outstanding, it says here.

A softbound Preliminary edition, which has more homework problems and
better artwork, etc., will be available in August. The phone number to call
at Addison-Wesley is (617) 944-3700, ext. 2486 (Julia Berrisford, Senior
Editor for Physics).

Cheers,
Jane

Jane Jackson (Prof. of Physics, Scottsdale Comm. College--on leave)
Dept.of Physics, Box 871504, Arizona State Univ.,Tempe AZ 85287-1504.
jane.jackson@asu.edu (602)965-8438 FAX:965-7331
Modeling Workshop Project: http://modeling.la.asu.edu/modeling.html