Re: Physics first?

[Herbert H Gottlieb <herbgottlieb@JUNO.COM>]

On Tue, 27 Jun 2000 19:47:53 -0400 "<Olga Livanis>"
<PhysicsFirst@AOL.COM> writes:
> Dear Colleagues:
> I am working addressing the efficacy of what I call "physics first."
> "Physics first" requires that the core high school science sequence
> be turned around to Physics-Chemistry-Biology. As many of you know, the

> currently accepted and widely used sequence is
Biology-Chemistry-Physics.
> I am very interested in your response to this proposed educational
> reform.  Thanks for your input.
> Olga

Your EXCELLENT idea to present Physics before presenting
Chemistry and Biology  has been tried by a few schools during the past
25 years. It makes a great deal of sense to present the basic science
of physics first and then build upon it later  by adding the more complex

chemical and living processes that depend on the physics.

However, the idea of physics first is NOT at all practical for most
of the schools in this country for the following reasons.

1. There is usually a drop-off in the number of students who elect
to take a second or third year of science in high school.   Thus,
there is a much higher enrollment of students in Biology classes
now than there is in Chemistry or Physics. If Physics were to be
offered first,  there would be too many students for the very few
qualified physics teachers that are available in the country.

2. A good source of new  teachers of Biology comes from the many
pre-med college graduates who decide not to pursue medicine
as a career.  For the most part, these graduates have studied
Biology but little or no physics in their high schools or colleges.

3. It is possible to achieve high grades in Biology by simple
memorization of  an assortment basic facts and concepts
that are presented by the teachers and textbooks. Because
Physics concepts require more of  a  thinking process
rather than memorizations the students who are a bit
older are likely to be more receptive and successful at
learning physics.

Herb Gottlieb from New York City
(Where a very few schools now teach physics first )