I would fully support the original proposal, but ordered Physics,
Chemistry, and Biology WITH the fourth year advanced course.
Obviously this requires a committment from the school system for FOUR
years of HS science! The current order of Bio, Chem, Physics was
chosen many decades ago because of ALPHABETICAL ORDERING :-( The
new ordering makes sense from the point of view that Chemistry is
applied Physics and Biology is applied Chemistry ;-) Of course, such
an ordering all but demands that the initial Physics course be of a
'conceptual' nature without lots of algebraic problem solving (but not
necessarily devoid of such). From the point of view of a College
Professor whose (non-physics-major) students have almost all had HS
physics but less than 1/4 of these seem to know any physics, I'd
prefer that everyone have at least one strong conceptual course before
attempting the more traditional 'problem-solving' course. I think the
Physics Educational Research community ( Dewey et. al.) might concur.
The fourth year option then permits those really interested in
Physics to take an AP level course (or equivalent).
Rick
--
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Richard W. Tarara
Department of Chemistry & Physics Free Physics & Energy Instructional
Software
Saint Mary's College available at:
Notre Dame, IN 46556
219-284-4664 http://estel.uindy.edu/aapt/rickt/software/
rtarara@saintmarys.edu
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++