Re: [Phys-l] Ten Quotes in Honor of Inertia (was WSJ on Active Physics)

[Zeev Wurman <zeev@ieee.org>]

I am sure that the scientists on these lists will not confuse the truth 
of a statement with the truth of its inverse.

I am in full agreement with Hake and his quotes that positive change is 
difficult and faces enormous inertia, but I hope that the readers will 
not incorrectly deduce that since a resistance occurred, the implication 
is that the change that caused it must have been a positive one. In 
fact, ANY change experiences inertia, whether the change is for the 
better or for the worse.

Specifically, I personally think "Physics First" movement is ill 
advised, and particularly in view of the US habit of teaching HS science 
one science course per year, as opposed to the non-US science teaching 
which tends to teach multiple science courses in parallel through all 
(or most) high school years.

Consequently, while I think that the backlash to Lederman's Physics 
First is fully justified in San Diego and elsewhere, that does not mean 
that the current science education in US is good. It just means that 
Physics First as a solution is bad and should be resisted.

Ze'ev

Richard Hake wrote:

> ABSTRACT: I give ten quotes in honor of THE INERTIA OF THE
> EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM and stimulated by the backlash of parents and
> teachers to the implementation of Leon Lederman's (2001) "Physics
> First" in the San Diego schools, as reported by Wall Street Journal
> reporter Rob Tomsho.
[Followed by many quotes, all of them paying homage to the difficulty of 
innovation]