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Re: Starting out with waves (originally Intro Physics Text/Course)



At 9:17 AM -0600 9/24/04, Daniel S. Price wrote:

I am looking to carry this restructuring still further, beginning with
forces at the start of the second semester, *then* introducing
kinematics once the basis for motion and acceleration has been
established. I should like to hear from anyone with experience in such
a "force-first" curriculum.

I would favor starting with momentum first. It is a very concrete
subject without a whole lot of abstraction required. And the concept
of impulse force and Newton's Laws flows pretty logically from that
beginning. I do agree that the "kinematics" part should come after
the introduction of forces. That way the students will have some
physical basis for understanding why the kinematics equations behave
the way they do.

Hugh
--

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

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