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Re: Physics Education reform in 50s and 60s



Wasn't IPS also begun in that time frame?

joe

On Fri, 4 Jun 2004, John Clement
wrote:

I would say that this is a good place to start. Two curricula which =
came
out of the effort were PSSC physics and Harvard Project Physics. Whi=
le both
had some very good ideas, they were not based on research even approa=
ching
the current level in PER. Some of those materials have been directly
recycled into the current research based curricula.

In reality the retooling in the average classroom was probably very s=
mall
and business as usual has continued to this day.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX

=20
Have your student start looking for information about the National
Defense Education Act, which became federal law in 1958. The NDEA
provided financial support to US schools to help them beef up scien=
ce
and mathematics education, following the embarrassing realization t=
hat
our space program efforts were running substantially behind the USS=
R's
accomplishments.
=20
Best wishes,
=20
Larry


Joseph J. Bellina, Jr. 574-284-4662
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556