I need one more piece of data before I can even begin to respond to Ken
Fox. Is Physics First the only physics, or do we also have a
traditional (or even better than traditional) physics course last?
In other words, when HS students come into my college program wanting to
be engineers, doctors, chemists, physicists... Have they had only the
freshman physics or have they also had a second physics course as
seniors?
If they have had a second physics course then my initial gut reaction is
"I don't care what you do in the first course." Of course, that isn't
really true, because I care deeply what science the masses are getting,
and I also care about how well the freshman science course (as well as
elementary and middle-school sciences) prepare students for later
science in high school.
But it obviously takes a whole lot of pressure off that freshman physics
course if students headed for sciences in college are going to get
another physics course as seniors.
I also might note another fear I have. If the "physics first" course is
called physics, then even if there is a senior physics course, will the
students headed into health and science think the freshman physics
course is enough and therefore not take senior physics? I already have
a lot of difficulty with students coming to college wanting to be
doctors and engineers, and they didn't take physics in high school.
Although physics as a HS freshman would be better than none, it won't be
as good a preparation for college physics as senior physics. We already
have data on this because we do have students coming into our program
after having had a good "physical science" course as a freshman, but no
physics beyond that. They typically have a lot more trouble in college
science than students who had senior physics, even if the senior physics
was "luke warm."
Bottom line, I can accept "physic first" (or high-physics-content
physical science) in the freshman year if (1) there still is a senior
physics course, and (2) students desiring to become scientists,
engineers, doctors, need to be counseled into taking both physics
courses.
And yes... Pre-med students need HS physics (and chemistry). They do
not need more biology as many students and guidance counselors suspect.
Biology prerequisites for med school are quite low. Just one year of
general biology (although more is a good idea). But med-schools
universally require a year of lab-based college physics, a year of
lab-based general-inorganic chemistry, and a year of lab-based organic
chemistry. High school students (and counselors) often think students
wanting pre-med should opt into a second or third biology course in lieu
of chemistry and/or physics. This is wrong, wrong, wrong. It is always
chemistry and/or physics that trips up the wanna-be pre-meds when they
get to college.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry and Physics
Bluffton College
Bluffton, OH 45817
(419)-358-3270
edmiston@bluffton.edu
This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.