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Re: [Phys-l] Physics Refresher



Right! It's PTSOS.

http://homepage.mac.com/phyzman/NTW/


bc, who thinks the National AAPT should assist in organizing such groups thruout the US -- hey the world!


Bob Yeend wrote:

Bill,

Welcome, indeed! I was in a position very similar to yours fifteen years ago, and wish I had had something like this list to refer to.

If you know what district you'll be teaching in, you might find out what text(s) they use and include those in your review after H/R/W.

You might also consider joining American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), and attending a section meeting. It's pretty reasonable if you're a student, and well worth the price. They provide a lot of information, as well as some assistance in finding a job, I think. This could be a way to find out about smaller local groups of physics teachers, too. For instance, here in the San Francisco Bay area, there is a group specifically geared to helping teachers new to teaching physics - a fantastic resource!

Best wishes,

Bob Yeend
Justin-Siena High School
Napa, CA


On Jan 28, 2007, at 9:24 PM, John Denker wrote:


On 01/28/2007 09:15 PM, Bill Lee wrote:

I'm looking for some advice on the best approach to a physics
refresher. I am 25 years out of school with a BS in Physics and MS
in Health Physics. I have spent the intervening years in an
environment where there were no demands on my education or training.
So rusty doesn't begin to describe my current situation. I am
planning on returning to my degree and entering the high school
physics classroom in the next 2 years. I picked up a current
textbook (Haliday/Resnick/Walker). So in addition to working through
the book does anyone have a recommendation on how to best sharpen my
skills and bring my knowledge up to date? I have completed the
state required coursework to enter the secondary classroom so my main
focus now is to revamp my physics knowledge.

1) Welcome to the list.

2) The fact that you have already met the requirements yet still
want to be extra-prepared indicates a really good attitude.

3) Working through the text is a good place to start. Since you
apparently have the time and have the motivation, working through
several /different/ texts is even better. (After the first, the
others will be much less work.) Pay particular attention to topics
that are handled differently from book to book. Think about the
pros and cons, and decide which approach most appeals to you. In
this way you begin to develop your own approach, your own style.

4) Also read _The Feynman Lectures on Physics_. I'm not suggesting
you will use these books as a text for high-school physics, but in
the spirit of being over-prepared, those are really special books.
Implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) they present a philosophy, a
sense of style, an appreciation for the grandeur of physics, and a
unified view of physics and science in general.

If you don't understand everything in there, don't panic. I've
read the things maybe 10 times and every time I learn more.
Being able to read a book when you /don't/ understand everything
is an important skill, one that your students will need to learn.

At the very least, these books will prepare you for the situation
where some smarty-pants student asks a question that exceeds the
depth of the high-school text.

BTW, making contact with item (3) above, look at volume 1 chapter
4, and marvel at how greatly Feynman's approach to energy and
conservation of energy differs from the usual high-school textbook
approach.

Also: You might really enjoy it.

FWIW: The hardbound books are overpriced IMHO. The paperbacks
are much more affordable, and are sufficiently well made to
stand up to years of use.

5) There are presumably some statewide standardized tests your
students will have to take. Find out about these. Study the
questions from previous years. Such tests constrain what you
have to cover, and in many cases become the de-facto syllabus.

This may be somewhere between unpleasant and infuriating, due
to the amount of wrong physics and general kookiness on the
tests.

6) How much flexibility do you have in the next 2 years? Are you
stuck full-time in the "no demands" job ... or can you make time
to (a) intern in a classroom, and (b) intern in a real physics lab
or other real-world job that does demand scientific thinking?

a) Any kind of practice-teaching gig will allow you to get the
inevitable "beginner mistakes" out of your system.

Teachers learn more from other teachers than from any other
source.

b) Any kind of outside-the-ivory-tower experience is priceless.
When I was in high school, I had a substitute geometry teacher
who had no idea why anybody should study geometry. He said
"when was the last time anybody needed to paint a parallelogram?"

I thought then -- and still think -- that as a teacher, unless
you can give a rousing, passionate explanation of why your
subject is important, you're in the wrong business.

It helps to have stories from the real world: Once I hand such-
and-such problem, and I solved it using such-and-such method.....

Conversely, there is a lot of near-worthless stuff in the textbooks,
and it is nice to know what you can safely skip.

7) On a related note, consider developing a /specialty/ where you
have extra depth. The motto is, "Jack of all trades, and master
of one or two." You can use this specialty as a unifying theme,
returning to it from time to time during the school year. For
more on the breadth versus depth issue, see
http://www.av8n.com/physics/breadth-depth.htm

_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l


_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l