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Another Alien Curriculum



Please excuse this cross-posting, in the interests of
interdisciplinary synergy, to discussion lists with archives at:

Math-Teach <http://mathforum.org/epigone/math-teach>,
Phys-L <http://lists.nau.edu/archives/phys-l.html>,
PhysLrnR <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/physlrnr.html>,
Physhare <http://lists.psu.edu/archives/physhare.html>,
QUEPHYS <http://www.gsu.edu/que>.

Kirby Urner's (2003) "Another Alien Curriculum" demonstrates that at
least one mathematics educator has a coherent vision of mathematics.
That such is sorely needed is the theme of a recent paper by
mathematician Bernie Madison (2003), who writes (my CAPS):

"In no part of U.S. education are the problems caused by disunity (or
lack of articulation) greater than they are in mathematics. . . . A
principal cause . . . . IS THE LACK OF AN INTELLECTUALLY COHERENT
VISION OF MATHEMATICS among professionals responsible for education.
Mathematicians, similarly, lack a coherent vision."

IMHO, Kirby's cogent cross-disciplinary curriculum is as alien in his
time as was that of Louis Paul Benezet's (1935/36) in his. Sadly
Benezet's curriculum was, and Kirby's probably will be, almost
totally ignored. IMHO, among the reasons for such neglect are:

(a) the glacial inertia of the U.S. educational system (see e.g. Hake
(2002a - Lesson #13),

(b) the failure of U.S. universities (loc. cit., Lessons #10 & #12;
Hake 2002b) to educate teachers with the "background, understanding,
and security" to EFFECTIVELY teach curricula such as that of Benezet
(1935/36), or Urner (2003), or even ninth-grade physics (Hake
2002c,d);

(c) the failure of U.S. society to pay K-12 teachers what they are
worth - at least as much as mechanical engineers (Heller 2001,
Langenberg 2000).


Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>

". . . a new scientific truth . . .(or a new curriculum). . . does
not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the
light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new
generation grows up that is familiar with it."
Max Planck

REFERENCES
Benezet, L.P. 1935/36. "The teaching of arithmetic I, II, III: The
story of an experiment," Journal of the National Education
Association 24(8), 241-244 (1935); 24(9), 301-303 (1935); 25(1), 7-8
(1936); online at the Benezet Centre
<http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/sanjoy/benezet/> (now featuring
photos of Benezet!). See also Mahajan & Hake (2000). For the
relevance of Benezet's work to the current acrimonious Math-Wars that
now dominate the discourse on Math-Teach see Hake (2001).

Hake, R.R. 2001. "Could the Math Wars End In a Treaty of Benezet?"
post of 3 Dec 2001 to PhysLrR/Math-Teach; online at
<http://www.mathforum.org/epigone/math-teach/yalsnayglix>.

Hake, R.R. 2002a. "Lessons from the physics education reform effort."
Conservation Ecology 5(2): 28; online at
<http://www.consecol.org/vol5/iss2/art28>. "Conservation Ecology," is
a FREE "peer-reviewed journal of integrative science and fundamental
policy research" with about 11,000 subscribers in about 108 countries.

Hake, R.R. 2002b. "Whence Do We Get the Teachers (Response to
Madison)". PKAL Roundtable on the Future: Assessment in the Service
of Student Learning, Duke University, March 1-3; updated on 6/17/02;
online as ref. 16 at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>.

Hake, R.R. 2002c. "Physics First: Precursor to Science/Math Literacy
for All?" Summer 2002 issue of the APS "Forum on Education
Newsletter" <http://www.aps.org/units/fed/index.html> / "Forum
newsletters" where "/" means "click on."; also online as ref. 19 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>.

Hake, R.R. 2002d. "Physics First: Opening Battle in the War on
Science/Math Illiteracy?" Submitted to the American Journal of
Physics on 27 June 2002; online as ref. 20 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>.

Heller, K.J. 2001. "The time has come to make teaching a real
profession." Spring 2001 issue of APS "Forum on Education Newsletter"
<http://www.aps.org/units/fed/index.html> / "Forum newsletters" where
"/" means "click on."

Langenberg, D.N. 2000. "Rising to the challenge," in Thinking K-16
4(1):19; online as "Honor in the Boxcar" at
<http://www.edtrust.org/main/main/reports.asp>.

Madison, B.L. 2002. "Articulation and Quantitative Literacy: A View
from Inside Mathematics." To be published in "Quantitative Literacy:
Why Numeracy Matters," edited by B. Madison and L. Steen. Madison
writes: "In my Ph.D. studies in mathematics I minored in physics,
taking 12 hours of graduate physics. As in my undergraduate
experience, physics and mathematics were still worlds apart. And
physics and mathematics should be the easiest subjects to integrate.
My years of college teaching tell me that my experience is not
unusual: there is very little synergy in teaching mathematics across
the collegiate disciplines." (Nor is there much synergy in teaching
mathematics across the pre-collegiate disciplines.)
NOTE: A preprint of Madison's paper appeared on the QUEPHYS (QUE =
Quality in Undergraduate Education) discussion list
<http://www.gsu.edu/que>, but because QUEPHYS runs on LISTPROC
software with its antediluvian archives, there's evidently no easy
way for a non-subscriber to access the paper.

Mahajan, S. & R.R. Hake. 2000. "Is it finally time for a physics
counterpart of the Benezet/Berman math experiment of the 1930's?
Physics Education Research Conference 2000: Teacher Education; online
as ref. 6 at <http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/sanjoy/benezet/>.

Urner, K. "An Alien Curriculum," Math-Teach post of 14 Jan 2003
23:47:08 -0800; online at
<http://mathforum.org/epigone/math-teach/turtwongnong/5s0a2vgsb59tp4b5vlikt8thr9ai4n27ru@4ax.com>.