I am in the Masters in Physics Education program at UVa. We are currently
examining various pedagogical approaches for teaching physics in secondary
school. As part of an assignment I’ve been reading *Five Easy Lessons –
Strategies for Successful Physics Teaching*, by Randall Knight. Knight has
also written a calculus-based college physics textbook based on physics
education research that employs the “active learning environment” he
describes in detail in *Five Easy Lessons*. I have bought a copy of his
textbook’s second edition (*College Physics, A Strategic Approach*, by
Knight, Jones, and Field; 2010 copyright) because I am intrigued to know how
his strategies are implemented, and especially how problem solving skills
are developed throughout the course. I’ve so far reviewed only the first
four sections of chapter 1, but I notice a clear emphasis on the explicit,
deliberate teaching of problem solving skills that have been broken down
into very small steps. The steps are profusely diagramed with
illustrations. With fewer than 20 pages read, it’s too soon for me to have
any true opinion of the text, so I will continue my review of it. What I
would like to know is if anyone in this forum uses or has used this textbook
(any edition), and if so what is your experience with this text compared to
others you have used? Also, do you think it would it be an appropriate text
for a high school (IB or AP) physics course? Thank you, Elizabeth Kennedy