In his insightful Phys-L post "Re: Physics for Ninth Graders?" of 25
Sep 2001 20:51:32 -0400, Hugh Haskell wrote:
"I have been saying for years. . .(see e.g., Haskell 2001). . . that
physics can be taught earlier than the 12th grade, and it should be.
BUT JUST DUMPING INTO THE NINTH GRADE ISN'T THE SOLUTION EITHER. . .
. It isn't that we have to 'dumb down' physics so that it can be
taught as a terminal course to ninth graders; we need to teach the
early concepts to kids starting as early as they can be expected to
grasp them. . . . They need to start learning to ask the question
'How do we know that?' and they need to start learning some of the
vocabulary of science. They can also start learning how to draw a
graph, and how to collect things--how to choose what fits into a
desired category, how to decide on categories, in other words, how to
look systematically at the world. . . . In this way, we can expect
that the students will be able to do certain things when they get to
the ninth grade, and even more by the time they get to the twelfth
grade. But we have put them on a ramp to understanding and not a
cliff. KEEPING THE CLIFF BUT JUST MAKING IT LOWER BECAUSE THE KIDS
ARE STARTING IN THE NINTH GRADE IS NO IMPROVEMENT. . . . it involves
much more than just reversing the order of presentation.. . . IT
INVOLVES A MAJOR RETHINKING OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE EDUCATION IN
THE PRE-HIGH SCHOOL YEARS. (My CAPS.)
Hugh's points are in consonance with:
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A. My Phys-L post "Physics for Ninth Graders?" of 25 Sep 2001 11:01:29 -0700:
". . .in my opinion. . . 'physics' should not start abruptly in the
ninth grade. Instead it and its way of thinking should be an integral
part of P-8 education (P = preschool).
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B. Ken Ford's (1989) eloquent (but generally ignored) logic: ". . . .
Physics is difficult in the same way that all serious intellectual
effort is difficult. Solid understanding of English literature, or
economics, or history, or music, or biology - or physics - does not
come without hard work. But we typically act on the assumption (and
argue to our principals and deans) that ours is a discipline that
only a few are capable of comprehending. The priesthood syndrome that
flows from this assumption is, regrettably, seductive . . . . . If
physics is not more difficult than other disciplines, why does
everyone think that it is? To answer indirectly, let me turn again to
English. Six-year-olds write English and (to pick a skilled physicist
writer) Jeremy Bernstein writes English. What separates them? A long,
gradual incline of increased ability, understanding, and practice.
Some few people, illiterates, do not start up the hill. Most people
climb some distance. A few climb as far as Bernstein. For physics, on
the other hand, we have fashioned a cliff. There is no gradual ramp,
only a near-vertical ascent to its high plateau. When the cliff is
encountered for the first time by. . .(a 14-). . . 16- or 17-year
olds, it is small wonder that only a few have courage (and the skill)
to climb it. There is no good reason for this difference of
intellectual topography. First-graders could be taught some physics .
. .(Hammer 1999). . . , second-graders a little more, and
third-graders still more. Then for the. . .(ninth-). . . , eleventh-
or twelfth-grader, a physics course would be a manageable step
upward. Some might choose to take it, some not, but few would be
barred by lack of 'talent' or background."
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C. Table II of Mahajan and Hake (2000) - "A possible physics curriculum":
Grades 1 - 8: Benezet's (1935) mathematics program as a basis. Add
physical quantities to it: angles, volumes, weight (mass), force
(estimating only), density as students learn division, energy, power.
All quantities are related to everyday experience: density of rocks,
volume of houses, power required in climbing stairs or cycling, power
in the falling water at Niagara Falls. Proportional reasoning and
scaling: `If you double the side of a cube, what happens to the
volume?' Use scaling throughout, starting in grade 4, with the
introduction of square measure, and emphasize it especially in grade
8.
Grades 9-11: Gravitation, motion of planets by hand simulation to
develop a tick-by-tick model of how Newton's second law works.
Dimensions, units, dimensional analysis to guess formulae. Springs,
waves, sound, music, pressure. Matter is made of atoms. This order
would fit with a physics-first curriculum (Livanis 2001) as suggested
by Leon Lederman (1999, 2001).
Grade 12: Begin exact calculations, including conservation laws.
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D. Table III of Mahajan and Hake (2000)": "Possible topics for K-12
suggested by Cliff Swartz (1993)":
Grades 1-6: Use standard measuring tools. Students measure their foot
lengths, then organize and interpret a class distribution graph.
Students time their pulses, plot a distribution of class results, and
make comparisons
with results of before and after physical exercise. Select the needed
apparatus and make all the measurements, calculations, and graphs to
determine who runs faster in their class, tall kids or short kids.
Grades 7-9: Use standard measuring tools. Use wire, battery, and bulb
with the right tools and connectors to make the bulb light. With a
convex lens as a magni_er, produce both real and virtual images.
Measure the volume and mass of an object and calculate its density.
Measure work input and output of a simple machine. Use echoes to
measure the speed of sound.
Grades 10-12: Use standard measuring tools. Given the mass of a
pollutant in a quantity of water, calculate the degree of pollution
in parts per million.
Organize the history of the universe on a power-of-ten map.
Characterize the electromagnetic spectrum in terms of wavelengths,
frequencies, and photon energies, doing necessary calculations and
examples to illustrate each regime. Use Archimedes' principle to
explain how a boat floats.
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E. National Science Education Standards (NSES) (National Research
Council 1996) [as noted by Larry Wolf in his Phys-L post "Physics for
Ninth Graders?" of 25 Sep 2001 21:08:37 -0700]. As indicated in
Mahajan and Hake (2001), the Benezet/Swartz -type listings in "C" and
"D" above are concrete examples of general categories in Table 6.2,
p. 106, of the NSES, and may give teachers a clearer idea of possible
nuts and bolts for a worthwhile K-12 science and mathematics
education.
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F. The Revolutions in the Goals and Methods of K-12 Science Education
(Lopez & Schultz 2001).
A final point: Ken Fox in his Phys-L post "Physics for Ninth
Graders/practicality?" of 26 Sep 2001 10:09:54 -0600, brought forth a
crucial consideration:
"Do we have the personnel to teach a conceptually sound 9th grade
Physics class?" . . . .
(or, for that matter, to teach conceptually sound science throughout K-12?)
In my opinion, probably not. At the very least, society needs to
start paying K-12 teachers what they are worth, e.g., at least the
same as mechanical engineers. (Heller 2001). Other concrete proposals
to drastically increase salaries of K-12 teachers have been given by
Don Langenberg (1999), the Hart - Rudman Commission (2001b), and
Vladimir Putin [see Daniszewski (2001)] (but NOT George Bush). For a
review of the Heller, Langenberg, and Hart-Rudman proposals see
Lesson #12i, page 37 of Hake (2001).
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and
catastrophe." H. G. Wells
REFERENCES
Benezet, L.P. (1935, 1936). The Teaching of Arithmetic I, II, III:
The Story of an Experiment. Journal of the National Education
Association 24(8): 241{244 (1935); 24(9): 301{303 (1935); 25(1): 7{8
(1936). The articles (a) were reprinted in the Humanistic Mathematics
Newsletter 6: 2{14 (May 1991); (b) are on the web along with other
Benezetia at the Benezet Centre
<http://wol.ra.phy.cam.ac.uk/sanjoy/benezet/>.
Daniszewski, J. 2001. "Putin Gives Teachers a Big Boost: Celebrating
nation's back-to-school day, the president pledges to double the
amount of the average instructor's pay," Los Angeles Times, 2
September 2001, page A3.
Ford, K.W. 1989. "Guest Comment: Is physics difficult?" Am J. Phys.
57(10), 871-872 (1989).
Hake, R.R. 2001. "Lessons from the Physics Education Reform Effort,"
submitted on 8/19/01 to "Conservation Ecology"
<http://www.consecol.org/Journal/>, a "peer-reviewed journal of
integrative science and fundamental policy research"; also online as
ref. 10 at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>:
[ConEc-Hake-O081901b.pdf], 8/19/01, 284K, 241 references, 123
hot-linked URL's.
Hart - Rudman Commission. 2001a. [United States Commission on
National Security/21st Century] "Road map for national security:
Imperative for change, Phase III Report"; online at
<http://www.nssg.gov/>.
_______.2001b. "Journeys through the teacher pipeline: Recapitalizing
American education, Partial cost estimates for road map for national
security"; online at <http://www.nssg.gov/addedumpage.htm>.
Langenberg, D.N. 2000. Rising to the challenge. Thinking K-16
4(1):19; online as "Honor in the Boxcar"; online at
<http://www.edtrust.org/main/reports.asp>.