physics experience

["Michael N. Monce" <mnmon@conncoll.edu>]

On Thu, 31 Oct 1996, Dewey Dykstra, Jr. wrote:

> One might still be tempted to focus on the notion that we cannot 'cover' as
> much material by "the Workshop Physics" approach.  To this I ask, why do we
> have to wait until college to accomplish all this stuff?  Much of this
> could be accomplished before or by the 9th grade, but all of the teachers
> come to the university and get taught the traditional way.  But they could
> be taught differently, yet *we* do not do this.  In a better world, if we
> choose to make one, I can imagine that students would have done alot or
> most of the conceptual front end by the time they get to college and in
> doing so would not only have changed their initial notions, but the major
> lesson would NO LONGER BE that *they* cannot make new sense of the
> phenomena.  Now that I could live with much  better!
>
> Dewey


	I think Dewey has found the core of our problem with the intro
course.  We teach it as if these students already have had expsoure to
these concepts from high school and before.  This has been driven home to
me in the last few years when the college started to admit more foreign
students who have seen physics throughout much of their pre-college
schooling.  They don't "breeze" through the intro. course, but it is not
the big mystery and/or frightening experience it is to the Americans.

	A step in the right direction has been taken by a fellow in
Farmington, CT....Fred Meyers, who teaches physics in the high school
there.  He somehow managed to convince the school board to change the
order of science courses to physics in 9th, chem in 10th, and bio in 11th.
This is the second year of the experiment and the data is very
encouraging; from larger enrollments in the chem course, std. tests
scores, and AP enrollments.  It's not the total solution, but a good
start.  I'm working to start the same process in my town's school system.  

	We need physics to be a part of American's education, on a yearly
basis, from an early stage on.  Maybe our efforts should be there, then
the standard Halliday and Resnick course, even taught in the traditional
way, would not be such a problem.



					Mike Monce
					Connecticut College