Re: [Phys-l] unique opportunity

[Trevor Fink <tmfink@ilstu.edu>]

Hi there Mariam!  What an exciting opportunity indeed!  I can't be much help
in designing a whole course, but I can tell you that last semester my
physics class used the text book:

The Sciences: An Integrated Approach (5th edition) by James Trefil and
Robert M. Hazen

ISBN: 0471769924
ISBN-13: 9780471769927

I found this book enjoyable to read as well as adequate in its explanation
of most of the topics.  It covers everything that you mentioned you need to
cover.  Some further explanation was added by my professor which helped fill
in the gaps (as it should be, in my opinion), but all in all I thought it
was a great book!  On a 1-10 scale:

Readability: 8.5
Depth of topics: 7
Breadth of topics: 9
Applicability: 9
Aesthetics: 10

Internet option available through publisher (John Wiley & Sons, inc.)

I'm sure there are other great books out there, but I thought you may be
interested to know that I had a positive experience (as a student) using
this book recently.

Best of luck to you in your new endeavors!  It sounds like a dream job to me
=)

Trevor Fink


On 5/16/08 7:57 AM, "Mariam Dittmann" <mariam.dittmann@bainbridge.edu>
wrote:

> 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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