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Re: [Phys-l] Research/suggestions on dividing soph (hs) physical science course into basic/advanced sections?



On 01/31/2012 11:07 PM, Jim Deane wrote:
we are meeting with our
administration tomorrow to discuss the topic of offering regular and
advanced levels of sophomore (high school) physical science.

The other physics teacher and I have thought for years that we could
target the classes to our student population better if we divided them
into lower and higher math levels.

Option A is to stick with one class, with all levels mixed together.

Option B is to divide the kids into two classes of "physical science"
at two different levels.

Let me mention that there is an Option C, namely to offer distinct
classes to teach the needed background in math, reading, computer
skills, et cetera. These preparatory classes don't pretend to be
physical science and don't substitute for physical science, but
rather feed students into the regular physics course a year later.
Some students need another year of preparation. Some students just
need another year of growing up.

To say the same thing another way: At some point you have to say
that the physics class has certain prerequisites. Just because
Joe Blow is a sophomore doesn't mean he has the prerequisites.
At some point the guidance office needs to do its job.

To say the same thing yet another way: I believe in "truth in
transcripts". It is not reasonable to have a course called "physics"
or "physical science" that is really little more than remedial math
and reading. Consider what happens when a student takes such a course
and then goes to a college that requires a year of high-school physical
science. The student is not prepared for college, and doesn't realize
it until way late in the game. This is not fair to the student and
not fair to the college. It throws sand in the gears of the universe.

.... very difficult to present
the physics material to classes that are so broad as to have students
ranging from 3rd/4th grade math&reading .....

Yes, it's difficult for the teacher to teach a disparate class.
It's also unreasonable to ask the physics teacher to teach N
years' worth of math and reading skills (in addition to a year's
worth of physics). However, in political terms that's not your
best argument for persuading the administration ... or persuading
parents and/or voters who pay the bills. Sad to say, the parents
and the administration don't care whether your job is hard or not.

The winning argument is to sell the idea from the *students'* point
of view. It's pure hell for the students who are at grade level to
get stuck in classes with students who aren't. What are they supposed
to do, play Angry Birds for months on end while the less-prepared kids
learn to read and to count?

Given a wildly disparate student body, if you don't divide them up,
one group or the other is going to get seriously short-changed.

=========

As a separate matter, there will always be a few kids who are
exceptionally over-prepared. You need a plan for dealing with
these kids. They won't be numerous enough to justify a separate
section of the course. I suggest letting them do a series of
independent-study projects in the far corner of the room, where
they can do stuff without disturbing the main group of students
too much. (It is amusing to make lists of such projects, but
that should probably be discussed in a separate thread.) The
point is that these kids can more-or-less fend for themselves,
if given the right motivation and sufficient opportunity, and
this can be done with relatively little expenditure of the
critical scarce resource i.e. teacher time.