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Re: Physics first



Another trend to consider is the move away from year long courses in a single
discipline, to a 2 or 3 year sequence of interdisciplinary science.

What is happening in states with learning standards, or goals, is that a
laundry list roughly approximating the whole table of contents for each
discipline's textbook is being generated. The idea is that each child is
supposed to master 80% to 90% of the content. Right.

Meanwhile, most schools require at most, 2 years of science, time for 1 life
and 1 physical science. The only way to make sure you hit the required
number of goals within 2 years, is through an interdisciplinary course. What
can certainly end up happening is having a chem teacher doing some bio, bio
doing physics, earth being taught by whomever... ... and nothing being
covered very in depth.

The interesting thing is that from what I hear, many european countries
follow a similar sequence. I would guess though, that they don't stop after
2 years.

Andrew Njaa
Chem/Physics teacher
Falmouth, Maine