Well, of course, in looking at any model one needs to spend some time
investigating the experimentalists and the data that, by induction, may
have led to the construction of the model, or that, by test of deductions
made from the model provided evidence of its flaws or incompleteness. Of
course, as you mention, many "natural philosophers" from history have
been both theoreticians and experimenters. And, Tycho _is_ in there, so
is Ptolemy. So is Galileo, but I didn't mention it (see the next para).
This section is not just "about models", but about how they are created,
tested, and modified, which implies the connections with experiment.
And, as much as we admire the experimentalists (I was one myself), the
models themselves tend to take on the names of their creators, and not
necessarily the names of those who experimentally shot the model down!
That is probably why the material seems unbalanced to you.
The course itself requires that 25% of the class time be spent by
students _doing_ investigations, so there is a strong experimental
component to it, and no doubt some of the classic experiments will be
repeated, or their data reaped for analysis by students.
WRT, things left out:
This is only an option, not part of the core / compulsory material of the
course. Some of the topics that you mention (e.g. PE effect) _are_ in the
core, and would certainly be taught with some historical context. I would
expect that a teacher dealing with this option would be connecting it with
a whole range of material that has been covered in other parts of the
course. In fact, some teachers have said that they plan to use the option
as the thread for the whole course, building the more "regular" physics
around it, rather than having it taught as a separate unit, or even to add
bits of the option into the core material sequence at the appropriate time.
The aim of the option was to be able to lay down a reflective thread
through a number of important concepts in physics, certainly not to be a
complete course in and of itself. That wouldn't do for the intended
audience: highly motivated, capable, junior/senior secondary school
students around the world. That's why I'm quite happy to try this out to
see how it goes, get the feedback from teachers and through the
examination, and then make adjustments.