Re: Active Physics First in San Diego

[Jane Jackson <jane.jackson@ASU.EDU>]

> POSTED TO PHYS-L:
> Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2001
> From: Larry Woolf <larry.woolf@GAT.COM>
> I am aware of the review of Active Physics in The Physics Teacher (May 1999
> issue, pages 284-285) and the article by Philip Sadler and Robert Tai in the
> Physics Teacher (May 1997 issue, pages 282-285) on 'The Role of High-School
> Physics in Preparing Students for College Physics.'
>
> Therefore, I would like to pose the following questions to the list:
> 1. Is Active Physics a recommended program for 9th grade?

I would recommend it for 9th Grade.  The activities are rather unusual for
physics classes...
some of them encourage students to design a  mechanical device to wrap up a
unit.  It is good for the developing the imagination - is this what
sometimes is referred to as "creativity"?
I taught 9th grade physics for one year using the materials from Active
Physics.  I liked the
applications of concepts to "real life".   For example, the unit on
motion.... activities relating to sports. This was the time when it was
finally clear to me why my students would not use
v = x/t to calculate average speed. They told me that if t is large, then
v is small., completely disregarding the distance factor!!!   Now you know
I was not into sports at all. BUT the students were quite insistent that
their way of thinking "works".  Well, I realized they were referring to
races, where of course, distance was a constant, and whoever ran with the
shortest time was the fastest.

I also liked the unit on predictions.


> 2. If you have used Active Physics, what was your opinion of the program?

Go back to #1 above.


> 3. Can students who take Active Physics as their first year physics course
> succeed in AP physics and do well on the AP test?

Why not?  By the time the students take AP Physics (most likely in their
Senior Year) they may not have "seen" physics for three years.  In which
case, the AP Physics teacher has to "review" and shake their memory to
begin with.  The students don't need to be supersmart to succeed in AP
Physics.  Before our school required Physics in 9th grade, (about 7 years
ago) we taught the first course on physics to the Seniors (after Physical
Science, Biology, Chemistry in that order), and it wasn't called AP
Physics, it was merely "physics".  Some of those students wanted to take
the AP test, and we let them. Those who felt they were prepared for the
test scored at least a 3 in the AP Physics test.


> 4. Do you think students who take high school physics perform better in
> college physics than those who do not? Sadler's article states, 'While,on
> average, taking a high-school physics course appears to have little
> relationship to college physics performance '

Yes.  My students who visit us at school after their first semester of
college on the US mainland
always seem to feel they did well in their physics class.  Some of them
write and tell me they "aced" their physics class.  Some say my class was
"harder".  Hmmm.  It is encouraging to get that kind of feedback.  Of
course not all my students take physics in college in their freshman year.


> 5. Is physics in the 9th grade preferred over the more traditional physics
> in 11th and 12th grade?

At Maryknoll, the Science Department decided that it was good for our
students to have at least explored physics and chemistry (and biology)
before they leave us.  Therefore, all our students are required to study
physics, chemistry, and biology in that order, for graduation.  For the
students who plan to study serious science at the university level, we
advise them to take the AP courses
in their junior or Senior year. This means that they need to take a
science class in the summer.
And they do. We have 2 classes of AP Biology, one of AP Chem and one of
AP Physics. This
constitutes approximately 25% of the senior class.  (I am estimating).


> 6. In a physics first approach, does the physics course such as Active
> Physics coherently support the subsequent chemistry and biology courses and
> does the chemistry course coherently support the subsequent biology course?

Yes, if the teacher conscientiously focuses on the applications to
chemistry/biology.
And if not, the chemistry and biology teachers have to bring the physical
concepts into focus
to relate their learning from physics class to their chemistry /biology
lessons.

> 7. What do university professors think of Active Physics as preparation for
> college physics?
I don't know.


> 8. What do you think of the idea of requiring all 9th graders to take Active
> Physics? Do you think that math-and-science-oriented students can
> successfully take a more traditional physics course in 9th grade?

I don't know about "requiring" any particular book/course. We used to use
Hewitt's "Conceptual
Physics" before we learned about Modeling.  But we did not use "Conceptual
Physics" as is --- we modified it to provide the students with what we felt
were important quantitative concepts
in their learning.  And we used "inquiry" as a basis for their learning.
Activities were not
"cookbook", the students were involved to some extent - engaged - in the
design of their activities.

Aloha,
Consuelo Rogers

M. C. Rogers
Science Department
Maryknoll School
1526 Alexander Street
Honolulu, Hawaii  96822
808 952 7276 (Voice mailbox)
crogers@maryknollhs.org
        *******************************

Jane Jackson, Co-Director, Modeling Instruction Program
Box 871504, Dept.of Physics & Astronomy,ASU,Tempe,AZ 85287
480-965-8438/fax:965-7331  <http://modeling.asu.edu>