🚀 go-pugleaf

When I started teaching physics over twenty years ago, my department chair
explained how to make sure that we kept the enrollment to one "good" class.
"Throw in a lot of calculus in the first few days to chase out the 'weak
sisters.'" This felt somehow very wrong to me, but as a first year teacher
new to the district I was not about to anger my chair. I wound up with a
rather small class of about fifteen students and was praised "for keeping up
the standards." The students were very good and would have learned a lot of
physics even without me.

 Fortunately, several years later, the old chair left and was replaced with a
new person who asked if I thought it would be possible to teach physics
first. It seemed that she had heard that this was being done at several
private schools. I jumped at the chance and for the last fifteen years have
taught physics to ninth graders. No, we do not use calculus, but we do solve
problems and learn "real" physics. I am proud to teach Conceptual Physics
using Hewitt's text  even though I do sneak in some mathematics.

Awhile back Jennifer and I were asked to write a piece on High School Physics
for AAAS. We thought long and hard on what we did and why. I have enclosed
the introduction from the soon to be published document.

 Most students hold deep-seated, intuitive views about how the world works.
Studying physics should allow students to explore their own notions about
common, every-day phenomena, discuss their observations with peers, and draw
conclusions that can be tested. Since physics deals with phenomena that
relate directly to the student's world, it is a course in which high school
students can begin to make predictions, practice data collection and graphing
techniques, and start to make scientific sense of their observations.  It
also gives students the opportunity to apply some of their mathematical
skills to real situations.
 Studying physics involves more than covering prescribed chapters in a
textbook. Students must be actively involved in their own learning.  They
should be asked to predict, observe, explore, question, test their theories,
articulate beliefs to their peers, family and teacher, and modify those
beliefs based on classroom experiences. Time needs to be provided for
students to draw conclusions from their experiences and reflect on the
process. Students should rarely be sitting passively in physics class, taking
notes from a teacher working at the board.  While there will certainly be
times when new concepts must be introduced, students should most often be
involved in doing rather than hearing about physics.
 Most scientific discoveries are the result of the collaborative effort of a
research team that works cooperatively to achieve a common goal, engaging in
constructive dialogue about their hypotheses and drawing conclusions based on
solid scientific evidence.  Students must be encouraged to model the way a
scientist learns by sharing ideas with classmates, discussing solutions and
drawing conclusions based on their own experimental results.  True science
learning is a messy, confusing, challenging, exciting, uplifting and
rewarding experience that teaches one how to target a problem and find a
solution.   Real life examples of physics phenomena will make the course
meaningful and lend relevance to the material.

Paul (Hickman)
Belmont H.S.