One of the key features in a new optional section in our IB Physics
syllabuses is the inclusion of material on historical physics. What it
purports to illustrate is physics as a process of errors, approximations,
and radical shifts in mindsets from prevailing thinking - so that
students get a view of physics as a dynamic body of knowledge,
principles, and laws (which they so often do get, without a historical
context).
We examine a few topic areas, such as astronomical models of the
universe, the development and implications of Newtonian determinism, the
energy concept, the entropy concept, relativity. What we aim to provide
is the sequence of events and ideas (and conflicts with prevailing
doctrine) and how the outcomes of these paradigm shifts affect us today.
We don't want the devlopment of physics to look to easy, methodical, or
instantaneously revolutionary, and we want students to gain some
appreciation of the assumptions and the paths that led to the
fundamentals that they are studying.
Allen
***********************************************
* Allen Brown
* Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education Group
* Faculty of Education voice: 613 545 6722
* Queen's University
* Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 BEST CONTACT BY:
* CANADA e-mail: brownan@educ.queensu.ca
* web: http://educ.queensu.ca/~brownan/