Re: Physics for Ninth Graders?

["RAUBER, JOEL" <JOEL_RAUBER@SDSTATE.EDU>]

> I am sad to see this grade-9 movement gaining momentum.  It
> pretty much
I strikes me that we have always had a physics first situation.  At least
where I went to school in the early 70's there was the senior year physics
course.  But 9th grade science was entitled Physical Science and basically
was a lot of really elementary physics and chemistry.

> ensures that HS physics will be taught at a highly watered-down
> conceptual level.  With all due respect to Leon Lederman and his
> optimistic band of followers, I do not believe that the majority of 14
> year olds possess the mathematical skills and intellectual maturity to
> comprehend physics to the extent that it ought to be understood at the
> HS level.
>
> I don't believe we're doing the nation any favors by trying to teach
> physics to less well prepared kids rather than waiting until they have
> had an opportunity to mature.  There is such a *vast*
> difference between
> the maturity of the typical 14 year old and the same kid at
> age 17; the
> gap seems like the grand canyon to me, and I'm always amazed that kids
> can traverse such a huge divide in just two or three years.
>
> I understand the "physics first" arguments and the driving
> politics, but
> understanding something doesn't always make one see it as an
> improvement.