Re: Would Physics First Increase the Number of Physics Majors?

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@MINDSPRING.COM>]

At 19:17 -0500 4/28/03, Frohne, Vickie wrote:
> So "Why isn't physics taught in grade school?" isn't the right question. The
> correct question is, "Why isn't physics taught EFFECTIVELY in grade school?"
> Because physics IS taught, but it doesn't "stick."
Because it is largely taught by people who don't understand physics
and are generally terrified of the subject. They are able to get
through the required teaching of the subjects because they have a
file drawer full of "activities" that they can have the students do
that formally satisfy the requirements. But the teachers have no
concept of how these "activities" are supposed to hang together, or
what principles they illustrate. To the extent that these are covered
on EOC tests, the kids learn to memorize whatever factoids will get
them through the tests.

I think that the idea that any elementary or middle school teacher
can teach science effectively is ridiculous. What we need to do is
follow the music and art scheme, and use visiting science teachers
who will go from class to class, bringing some sort of coherence into
the science program. I have discussed on this list before the many
advantages of using this strategy. If we have a relatively small
number of teachers who are responsible for teaching science, we can
expect a lot more from them in the way of understanding what it is
they teach. Right now, we give pre-service teachers a lick and a spit
of science, which gets them nowhere near far enough into it that they
have any understanding of what it is or how it works, and then we
expect them to go out and teach the students what the teachers
themselves don't know. And then, of course, we blame the teachers for
doing a bad job of it. It's no wonder it doesn't "stick."

If we had some science teachers in the elementary schools who knew
what they were doing, They could meet with the classes two or three
times a week, and in that time get the students to understand huge
amounts more than they do now. Of course, this type of understanding,
the kind we all value later on, is very difficult to evaluate on
multiple-choice EOC tests, so this won't meet with the approval of
the advocates of those tests, who also neither like nor understand
science.

So the first thing we do is shoot all the EOC testing advocates . . .

Hugh
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Hugh Haskell
<mailto:haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto:hhaskell@mindspring.com>

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