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Re: What to do now



>>>Third, who has set the topics that you
must cover?<<=20

They are in the course outline. Also, when the students transfer to=
=20
ISU they will be behind.=20
In ISU's first semester physics class they cover all the mechanics, a=
nd then start E&M. I am only going up to waves.=20

Tina:
The ISU physics may claim to cover all the mechanics. There are
several reasons not to be too concerned. Rarely are all the topics
actually "covered" and "coverage" hardly means anything in terms of
what the students can actually do the next semester. These are
reasons (1) for not becoming incapacitated with worry and (2) why
concentrating on a few central and fundamental issues will serve your
students well. This is not to say nothing happens in the ISU Physics
classes, but you must be familiar with the research on what students
actually seem to learn in normal physics classes. It is not too late
to deal with the problems and get some serious things done.

Dewey

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Dewey I. Dykstra, Jr. Phone: (208)426-3105
Professor of Physics Dept: (208)426-3775
Department of Physics/MCF421/418 Fax: (208)426-4330
Boise State University dykstrad@email.boisestate.edu
1910 University Drive Boise Highlanders
Boise, ID 83725-1570 novice piper: GHB, Uilleann

"As a result of modern research in physics, the ambition and hope,
still cherished by most authorities of the last century, that physical
science could offer a photographic picture and true image of reality
had to be abandoned." --M. Jammer in Concepts of Force, 1957.

"If what we regard as real depends on our theory, how can we make
reality the basis of our philosophy? ...But we cannot distinguish
what is real about the universe without a theory...it makes no sense
to ask if it corresponds to reality, because we do not know what
reality is independent of a theory."--S. Hawking in Black Holes
and Baby Universes, 1993.

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