It is not at all clear to me what the best type of physics course IS for
the other 95% (or at least the majority of that 95%). While the kind of
strong concentration of fundamental concepts ('FCI focused courses'--for
lack of a better name) DO seem appropriate for Elementary and Middle School
teachers (who would then teach such courses to their students), it not
clear this kind of course best serves 'the masses'. One could (for
example) argue that a 'Science and Technology'-style course (with enough
work on methodology to make science credible) would better serve many.
Others might argue a 'Philosophy of Science'-style course would be more
useful to many. The point being that the most effective styles and
methodologies of TEACHING these different style course might also be
different from that of an "FCI-focused" or 'traditional instruction" style
course. This might be against the constructivist's religion, but there
really might be many different styles of instruction that are
effective--effective for different clientele and for different types of
courses.
I do think everyone on this list (and in general teachers everywhere) want
to be more effective, and are (at least somewhat) open to change. However,
when the prophets of the 'new order' start out by TOTALLY trashing the past
several centuries of instructional work, their credibility (or at least the
extent to which one is willing to listen) is reduced. All this is
compounded by the tendency in education (general) to gravitate from fad to
fad on a regular basis (cycling through every 20 years or so). I
understand that now that almost all of the 'open-concept' schools have been
remodeled to wall off the rooms, that the open-concept IS BAAACK!