Re: [Phys-l] Physics First Revisited

[Jack Uretsky <jlu@hep.anl.gov>]

Hi all-
	Well, I dunno.  What seems to me is missing from the dialogue is 
the question of goals.  My impression is that physics is taught as though 
every student should aspire to become a phyicist.  We don't do that with 
music or art.  Maybe we need a new discipline, "physics appreciation". 
That still leaves the question of what purpose is to be served by such a 
course.
	Yes, I know that we don't want science (whatever that is) to be 
subverted to political ends.  But is there any evidence that physics 
education helps protect us from non-science or pseudo-science?  My hunch 
is that a close review of the dialogues on this net will persuade many 
that the opposite is quite the case.
					Regards,
						Jack



On Wed, 28 Jan 2009, Woolf, Larry wrote:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
> [mailto:phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of Richard
> Hake
> Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 5:38 PM
> Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Physics First Revisited
>
> White's article reinforces points made by Ken
> Ford (1989) in "Guest Comment: Is physics
> difficult"
> FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
> FOR PHYSICS, ON THE OTHER HAND, WE
> HAVE FASHIONED A CLIFF. THERE IS NO GRADUAL RAMP,
> ONLY A NEAR-VERTICAL ASCENT TO ITS HIGH PLATEAU.
> When the cliff is encountered for the first time
> by. . . (14- or) . . . 16- or 17-year olds, it is
> small wonder that only a few have courage (and
> the skill) to climb it. There is no good reason
> for this difference of  intellectual topography.
> First-graders could be taught some physics . . .
> (Hammer 1999, Snyder 2001). . . , second-graders
> a little more, and third-graders still more. . .
> . (Love 2001) . . . [and Middle School'ers still
> more. . .  (Hubisz 2001 a,b)]. . . Then for the.
> . .(ninth-). . . , eleventh- or twelfth grader, a
> physics course would be a manageable step. Some
> might choose to take it, some not, but few would
> be barred by lack of 'talent' or background. (My
> CAPS.)
> FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
> ========================================================================
> ====
>
> A similar and eloquent exposition of this point was made by Larry
> Malone, FOSS co-director at the Lawrence Hall of Science, in the Summer
> 2007 APS Forum on Education newsletter,
> <http://www.aps.org/units/fed/newsletters/summer2007/malone.html>
>
> "... the question of when to teach physics has stubbornly resisted
> consensus. For me, however, the answer is straightforward: physics
> first. By first, I mean first grade. Physics is too large and too
> important to postpone until high school. Physics is the branch of
> science that provides the anchors against which the other disciplines
> pull for explanatory models and confirmation. Where the positioning of
> physics in the high school curriculum escalates to the level of a
> philosophical battle, it may indicate that opportunity has already been
> missed. To me physics first means start with the five- and
> six-year-olds, spending quality time guiding them to experience and
> describe the properties of objects and materials, and to discover what
> happens when they interact. Then comes physics second, moving students
> into operational experiences with force and energy-magnets, bulbs,
> sounds, pushes and pulls. Follow this with physics third, discovering
> relationships between interacting objects and systems. And then physics
> fourth, with the introduction of the particulate nature of matter and
> the conditions under which matter experiences transformations. Physics
> fifth brings an introduction to mathematical models and a new logic for
> displaying, thinking about, and explaining phenomena. In this scenario,
> as students enter high school, the notion of physics first has lost its
> gravity. Too late for physics first, just the next level of the
> encounter and new concepts to deepen an already substantial body of
> physics knowledge."
>
> Larry Woolf
> _______________________________________________
> Forum for Physics Educators
> Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
> https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l

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