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[Phys-L] Re: What students will do. (was: Physics Solutions Manual)



Not sure I agree. Had PSSC physics in HS (1963) and 1st year course at
Notre Dame was very problem solving oriented. Of course the little old
professor (now I'm old but not so little) had a 4 page handout with all the
Calculus you actually needed for Freshman Physics. Second year course was
taught directly our of (the brand new) Feynman lectures--starting out with
a couple of weeks figuring out what del dot and del cross were all about!
I actually was too dumb to pick up a copy of Resnick and Halliday and
figure out what we were talking about! ;-(

Rick

[Original Message]
From: Jack Uretsky <jlu@HEP.ANL.GOV>
To: <PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU>
Date: 2/8/2006 5:40:23 PM
Subject: Re: What students will do. (was: Physics Solutions Manual)

Hi all-
I think that Antthony is on the right tracck. I think that,
historically, high school and freshman college physics, were much more
qualitative and less mathematically demanding "in the old days". There
was more gee-whiz stuff, which was fine for getting people interested in
the subject. Reasonably rigorous mechanics, except at places like MIT and
CalTech, was postponed until about the junior year. I think the reason
that MIT was pushing the envelope back in the '30's was because there was
a substantial undergraduate influx from New England's prestigious prep
schools coupled with an influx of physics faculty (stolen from Princeton)
who had recently studied under the German physics masters.
Regards,
Jack

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