Re: [Phys-l] "Modern" Physics course title

[Uri Ganiel <uri.ganiel@weizmann.ac.il>]

On Aug 29, 2007, at 8:30 PM, Taha Mzoughi wrote:

> Hi All:
>
> At a meeting I attended this last summer, someone reminded us that  
> what we
> as physicist consider as modern physics are topics that were about  
> a century
> old. This of course makes the name that most of us use, "modern  
> physics" for
> one course (or more) as part of the undergraduate curriculum  
> inappropriate.
> I later found out that there is a book called "Nonclassical  
> Physics." I also
> found out that U. of S. Maine uses the same "Nonclassical Physics"  
> title for
> their courses. Even though "Nonclassical Physics" is a more fitting  
> title to
> the courses we usually teach, I don't like it. Starting a title  
> with a "Non"
> did not cut it for me.
>
> I was wondering if others came up with better and more fitting  
> titles for
> the "modern physics" course. Or does anyone have a suggestion on  
> what we (as
> a community) should start calling the course?
>
> Thanks for any input.
>
> Taha
>
> Taha Mzoughi
> Associate Professor
> Dept. of Biology and Physics
> Kennesaw State University
> 1000 Chastain Rd., #1202
> Kennesaw, GA 30144-5591
> Office: 678 797 2152
> FAX: 770 302 4202
> e-mail: tmzoughi@kennesaw.edu
> http://physci.kennesaw.edu/
>
>
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Taha-

Your concern is something which we had thought about a long time ago,  
when developing the physics materials for our high school (HS)  
students who choose to take physics at the high level. We were trying  
to get our curriculum beyond 1895 or 1900, which is where most HS  
courses end. Clearly the name "Modern Physics" was not appropriate.  
We named our course: "Topics in 20th Century Physics" (it was still  
the 20th century when we were doing this), and that is what it  
included. Clearly we had to make difficult choices. That is clearly  
up to you when you put together your course.
More recently we have started to add some more "modern" topics- Chaos  
theory is one example. Also, together with Bat Sheva Eylon and Shuly  
Kapon (our graduate student, who does all the work- as usual :)), we  
are studying how to utilize excellent lectures by expert physicists  
in order to push the front further, i.e. expose our students to  
contemporary physics -again, beyond 1950 or so. See our paper at the  
last AAPT and at the PERC meeting that followed.




Uri Ganiel
Professor Emeritus
Department of Science Teaching
The Weizmann Institute of Science
Rehovot 76100, ISRAEL

Tel: 972-8-9343895
FAX: 972-8-9473677
E-Mail: uri.ganiel@weizmann.ac.il