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What to teach (was: American students do poorly)




A couple of weeks ago there was a piece on the TV show "Prime TIme"
about US students' abilities. (It didn't get much attention in this
group at the time because of volumes of posts on misconceptions.) The
theory put forward was that American high schools try to teach too much.

And they "teach to much" in two different meanings. 1) The courses are
"an inch deep and a mile wide". The students have fat text books
(2 to 3 times the size of other countries) and they cover an amazing
amount without being able to spend time on any one topic. 2) The
American teachers "teach" by puting the answers on the board and
expecting the students to basically accept the result and memorize it.
In other countries students were required to struggle BEFORE they were
introduced to the "standard" answer.


Anyway, here is the point for this group.

Before we go to the high schools to enlighten them, aren't we
(collectively) guilty of the same thing? I think we are doing a
disservice to our students by covering as much as we do in the
first year. I would like your opinions on what it is we SHOULD be
teaching in the first year of physics. Perhaps a good place would be
to answer the following questions:

What is "physics"?

What "facts" should every student know after a year of physics?

What "skills" should every student have after a year of physics?

How do we best accomplish this in 3-4 hr a week?

Do the answers depend on whether the students are physicists,
chemists, engineers ...?




--- Tim Folkerts


P.S. When I get my own messages back, they always say from
"To:phys-l@atlantis.uwf.edu", not my name. Is that how it appears to
others, and if so, does anybody know how to fix this?

I never have this problem except with phys-l.


********************************************************
Timothy J. Folkerts Tim.Folkerts@valpo.edu
Dept. of Physics & Astronomy 219-464-6634
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso, IN 46383