Re: [Phys-L] Sequence

["Anthony Lapinski" <Anthony_Lapinski@pds.org>]

I agree, physics concepts take time to learn. But it depends on how you
teach/test. Just math? Or concepts (multiple-choice) too? Makes a big
difference. Also depends on how smart your students are, the pace of the
class, how many topics you teach, etc.

Phys-L@Phys-L.org writes:
> 3 class periods?  really?  usually takes weeks to get those points
> across.  
> all those other concepts in a short period of time?  months here!  
>
> On Mar 19, 2014, at 7:53 PM, Philip Keller wrote:
>
> > Just thinking at loud here...
> >
> > What if you start by defining constant velocity and showing what its
> > position and velocity graphs look like.  Then define constant, non-zero,
> > positive acceleration and show what its position and velocity graphs
> look
> > like.  At this point, you have invested maybe 3 class periods if you go
> > slow.
> >
> > Then move on to forces, momentum, energy, circular motion, gravitation,
> > whatever you like, returning to kinematics as later, say before you
> teach
> > projectile motion but after you teach vectors.
> >
> > This way, you would have the vocabulary of kinematics in place but not
> the
> > equations.  You would get to say things like: when no unbalanced forces
> act
> > on an object, its velocity graph looks like this,or like this but never
> > like that.
> >
> > It feels to me that you could teach a lot of physics before you needed
> any
> > further kinematics treatment.
>
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