Re: Why Physics First?

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@MINDSPRING.COM>]

At 9:02 -0700 10/10/02, John Barrer wrote:
> I think the Phys/Chem/Bio sequence makes the most
> sense pedagogically. Everyone gets some physics
> exposure; the weaker math kids would certainly not
> deal with vector components. It would seem easy to
> offer an honors 9th grade physics for those who can do
> the algebra and a conceptual course for those who
> can't. But the conceptual course must still ask lots
> of "How do you know that" questions.

Physics can be done without trig. There are few things that require
two dimensions to be understood, and those can be done without
reference to trigonometric concepts. They need introductory algebra
and a geometry course (mostly so they understand a bit about
triangles). They don't need vector components except in the simplest
form, like an etch-a-sketch. Collisions can be done in one dimension,
as can kinematics. They can be taught electricity without Gauss's law
(although I'm not sure you have to do it that way), and they don't
need to mess with products of vectors. Peridoic motion doesn't have
to bring in sines & cosines. We really only need to know about
periods and frequencies, and when they see pictures of waves they
don't have to be identified as sine-waves. I'm leaving lots of stuff
out in a one-paragraph summary, of course, but the point is that
there are very few basic principles of physics that cannot be taught
in a significant way without getting into the math that they haven't
had yet.

ninth graders can learned an intellectually stimulating version of
physics without having to be advanced math students. And students who
arrive in their chemistry courses with an understanding of the
physical basis for chemistry can learn a whole lot more there, and
then when they arrive in biology with an understanding of the
chemical basis of biology they can learn a whole lot more there than
they do now. Of course, this sequence may require that the chemistry
and biology teachers learn a lot more chemistry and biology than they
now know and may be threatening to them.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
<mailto:haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto:hhaskell@mindspring.com>

(919) 467-7610

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This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.