Well, it's unique for me. I was previously at an institution where
courses were well-defined, historically, with lecture and lab each
receiving separate credit. We had a lot of "That's just how we do it
here." I was there for 16 years and was still one of the new guys at
the school when I left. For the past 10 years I have been an
administrator, and have confined my limited teaching to astronomy
(non-majors).
I am now at a different institution. It is much smaller, and, I find
myself in the position, among other responsibilities, of being the only
professor of physics. I may have to teach an algebra based physics
class in the fall, and need to start now to prepare. I am not required
to teach as a part of my responsibilities and the president has
questioned the sanity of this decision. (I am starting to lose sleep
over this, myself.)
The only apparent constraint is the course description -- a standard
first semester of mechanics, thermodynamics and waves, although looking
at what the last (part-time) instructor taught, there is not much
constraint in that. The division chair is in humanities (we are a small
school) and sees all sciences as more or less the same. (Second
semester should be electromagnetism, optics and modern topics.) This
course is billed as a general science, though there may be the odd
science-type major in the class. There does not appear to be a math
pre-requisite of any kind for this course - although algebra and trig
are mentioned in the course description. There is a lab - I think. It
seems to be taught in conjunction with the lecture. I don't know what
equipment is available.
Now, I have an appreciation for PER and all that we learn from that, but
I was more traditionally trained and so am more comfortable with
traditional methods. My question is -- if you can design your own
course - what do you keep in and what do you throw out? What book do
you use? How do you balance the lecture and the lab? What labs do you
use? What other recommendations do you have? As I said, I have never
had the option, before, of designing my own course - it was always
handed to me in detail.
Thank you for your help.
Mariam
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