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Re: physics first?



Here, even considering only the "selfish motives," physics first seems
to amount to a win-win situation.

If, as in Rex Rice's school, freshman AND junior (i.e., advanced)
physics are offered, students win, because they get two years of
physics and are better prepared for advanced science. (I would also
opine that one year of freshman physics is more valuable to the
student than a year of freshman biology.) Biology teachers (if they
really don't want to teach freshman biology) win, because they only
teach advanced biology.

The physics teachers win, because there is more demand for their
services(!). Also, the physics teachers have more control creating
interest in advanced science among freshman students, perhaps, leading
to higher enrollments in advanced physics (!!).

The only "down side" for physics teachers seems to be that they will
be teaching an extra freshman level course, a course with more less-
or ill-prepared students than they are currently used to working
with. In my mind, this does not seem a down side at all for the
reasons above. Also, among the students I work with, I don't see them
opting for advanced biology over advanced physics. So, as long as
they have equal opportunity to take advanced physics as advanced
biology, advanced biology should not skim off those upper level
students at the expense of physics.

Glenn A. Carlson, P.E.
St. Charles County Community College
St. Peters, MO
gcarlson@mail.win.org

Rex Rice's high school follows the science sequence promoted by
Leon Lederman: all freshmen have a year of physics, and all sophomores have
a year of chemistry. The juniors have biology, and they can take advanced
physics.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

If your high school is pushing for physics in the first year of high
school,
watch out. What are the motives? I think there is strong motive among
the
biologists and some chemists to attempt a switch with the physicists. For
years the physics teacher has gotten the cream of the crop because the
ho-hum students have already satisfied their science requirement before
they
got to physics. The biologists want to turn that around. Let the hoards
of
students with zero science interest take physics instead of biology. Then
let us teach some more advanced biology. In the schools I have examined
that are pushing for this, I see essentially no scientific logic behind
their push. It seems totally based upon selfish motives.