Re: Formal explanations vs. pathways of understanding (was:

["Paul Camp" <pjcamp@coastal.edu>]

Just curious -- does this program include consideration of alternate 
ideas that turned out not to work or of alternate formulations 
abandoned since they are less convenient? There is a nifty example of 
the latter in Galileo's choice of definition for acceleration (which 
I believe is in the Dialogues). The thing I always liked about 
Burke's Connections series is the explicit recognition that the 
development of scientific ideas is generally a great deal more 
chaotic than the histories usually depict.

> One of the key features in a new optional section in our IB Physics 
> syllabuses is the inclusion of material on historical physics. 
> 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

Paul J. Camp                   "The Beauty of the Universe
Assistant Professor of Physics  consists not only of unity
Coastal Carolina University     in variety but also of 
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