In his 2/17/01 Phys-L post "open-source labs and homework," Ben Crowell wrote:
". . . Wouldn't it be cool if physics teachers could share their
course materials with each other, but be free to modify them for
their own purposes? . . . (I have corresponded about). . . creating
an open-source set of labs and homework problems for introductory
physics. . . 'open-source' may be familiar to those of you who know
about the Linux operating system or the free information movement . .
. I'd be very glad to hear from you either on- or off-list if you're
interested in the project, have materials you could contribute, or
know of anything similar that already exists."
This same idea was discussed at the recent AAPT meeting in San Diego
by Richard Furnstahl & Seth Rosenberg(1) and by Michael Wittmann.(2)
Furnstahl and Rosenberg propose a curriculum development and reform
model based on the "bazaar approach" to computer software development
described in ref. 3. In the case of physics education, individual
teachers or departments would be the counterparts of the community of
code warriors (hackers) who have contributed so effectively to the
development of open-source software such as Linux.
In addition to the examples of open-source educational materials
given by Crowell, another is my own Socratic Dialogue Inducing Labs
(SDI) Labs(4,5).
SDI lab manuals are available online at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/> and also
<http://galileo.harvard.edu/>/"Hands-On Methods" as Adobe Acrobat
portable document files (pdf's) which may be copied, pasted, and cut.
In addition two Teacher's Guides are password protected at the
Harvard Galileo site <http://galileo.harvard.edu/>/"Hands-On
Methods"/"Socratic-Dialogue-Inducing Labs"/"Resources for
SDI"/"Teacher's Guides." At the bottom of each lab manual and
Teacher's Guide is the copyright sign and a statement "You may
change, modify, copy, and distribute at will for use in your own
institution, but please contact R.R. Hake before distributing your
version beyond your own institution."(6)
Thus far physics-education-research (PER) based materials(8)have had
only minor influence on mainstream physics teaching. The availability
of more "open-source" PER materials that are easily tailored to local
circumstances might increase their use and contribute to their
improvement through feedback from users.
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
REFERENCES
1. R.J. Furnstahl & S. Rosenberg, "The Bazaar Approach to Physics
Education," AAPT Announcer 30(4), 120 (2000).
2. M.C. Wittmann, "Disseminating Innovative Curricula: A Modified
Role for Dissemination Sites, AAPT Announcer 30(4), 120 (2000).
3. Eric S. Raymond, "The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux
and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary" (O'Reilly &
Associates (1999); an updated version is online at
<http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/>.
4. R.R. Hake "Socratic Pedagogy in the Introductory Physics Lab,"
Phys. Teach. 30, 546-552 (1992); a version updated on 4/27/98 is
online at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/>.
5. R.R. Hake, "My Conversion To The Arons-Advocated Method Of Science
Education," Teaching Education 3(2), 109-111 (1991); online at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>.
6. However, some caution regarding changes by inexperienced physics
teachers is in order - online SDI labs are NOT early beta versions,
having undergone a lengthy "redesign process" [described by Wilson
and Daviss (ref. 7)] of continuous long-term classroom use, feedback,
assessment, and research analysis.
8. For a listing of physics curriculum materials based on physics
education research see
<http://www.physics.umd.edu/perg/ecs/matper.htm>. For a list of
PUBLISHED [i.e., Cathedral-type (ref. 3)] research-based
instructional materials see L.C. McDermott & E.R. Redish, "RL- PER1:
Resource Letter on Physics Education Research," Am. J. Phys.
67(9),755-767 (1999).