Re: physics before math????

[Tim Burgess <tburgess@JAGUAR1.USOUTHAL.EDU>]

On Fri, 21 Jan 2000, John Denker wrote:
> 3c) One might imagine attempting to teach physics before math, but this is
> absurd.  The whole point of physics is to build quantitative models of the
> real world.  This attempt becomes a double-or-nothing proposition:  either
> the physics teacher covers physics *and* math [in which case this reduces
> to the previous case, (3b)] or the syllabus becomes so watered-down that
> the students emerge knowing neither physics nor math.

What if physics provides a "need" for the math? What if math has a greater
clarity for students who see application in physics? One possibility is that
algebra and physics concurrently taken may be symbiotic. Students could
emerge both knowing and understanding math and physics more deeply. I do
think that the effort is worth investigation.

Tim


Tim Burgess
UMS-Wright Preparatory School
Mobile, AL 36607