I have to agree with Marc on this one. I have taught physics for 30 years
and agree with the statement that you can do more with more advanced
(older) students. And just because it has been done that way for 50 years
does not make it the best way to do it. Ask a math teacher if they
thought it were possible to teach calculus to a high school student 25
years ago and you would get the same response that I read about 9th grade
students taking physics.
If a time traveler from the 1890's came to your city, virtually everything
they encountered in our modern world would be very frightening and
unsettling. If you wanted to make them feel as ease, take them to your
local high school. Things there have not changed much in the last 100 or
so years. They would feel right at home.
We are in the middle of making the transition to Physics First at
Hockaday. When I visit the pilot classes to see how things are going, or
when the 9th grade teacher tells me of the great strides her class has
made in understanding and doing REAL physics, I am even more convinced
that this is the right thing to do. No they can not do differential
calculus, but neither can some of my seniors. But I am certain that the
exposure to the physics that they are getting will certainly serve them
well in later courses.
I remember reading (I think it was a study from Harvard University but I'm
not sure) that the reason the sequence evolved the way it did was that it
was alphabetical! Biology was the first course you took because it was
the first one listed in the course guide and the counselors tended to put
all freshmen in that class. I doubt that I would find much argument that
physics is the basis for all other sciences. Physics is where you learn
about forces.... Chemistry is where you use these forces to put atoms
together into molecules and if you let the molecules get big enough, then
Biology seems to get interesting....
....end of rant....
Pete Lohstreter "Happy is he who gets to know
The Hockaday School the reasons for things. "
11600 Welch Rd Virgil (70-19 BCE) Roman poet.
Dallas, TX 75229