Re: physics experience

[George Spagna <gspagna@rmc.edu>]

At 09:26 AM 11/1/96 -0500, Mike Monce wrote:
> On Thu, 31 Oct 1996, Dewey Dykstra, Jr. wrote:
>
> > One might still be tempted to focus on the notion that we cannot 'cover' as
> > much material by "the Workshop Physics" approach.  To this I ask, why do we
> > have to wait until college to accomplish all this stuff?  Much of this
> > could be accomplished before or by the 9th grade, but all of the teachers
> > come to the university and get taught the traditional way.  But they could
> > be taught differently, yet *we* do not do this.  In a better world, if we
> > choose to make one, I can imagine that students would have done alot or
> > most of the conceptual front end by the time they get to college and in
> > doing so would not only have changed their initial notions, but the major
> > lesson would NO LONGER BE that *they* cannot make new sense of the
> > phenomena.  Now that I could live with much  better!
> >
> > Dewey
>
>
> 	I think Dewey has found the core of our problem with the intro
> course.  We teach it as if these students already have had expsoure to
> these concepts from high school and before.  

Ditto  -  I recall in several conversations that Bob Resnick was writing the
original version of H&R with the understanding that students would come to
the course with a background of concepts and exposure to phenomena.  He was
saddened and surprized by the response to the book:  high school texts and
courses stopped giving students this essential background and started
imitating his book.

> 	We need physics to be a part of American's education, on a yearly
> basis, from an early stage on.  Maybe our efforts should be there, then
> the standard Halliday and Resnick course, even taught in the traditional
> way, would not be such a problem.

I agree  -  The only way to permanently change the way physics is taught in
K-12 is to change the way we teach it to future teachers at the college and
university level.


> 					Mike Monce
> 					Connecticut College

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