Understanding Physics

Posted on June 1st, 2009 by admin, under Education.

My academic background is primarily in biology, with a good dose of chemistry and a good bit of geology thrown in. physics was never really part of the range for me, so I used a little physics education theoretical decision-school graduates had under my teacher, I was pretty excited.

One of these classes has been particularly rewarding. It was) mainly the study of words with the naked eye astronomy (the Sun and the Moon. In this class, we have some just plain awesome above all things that we learned another saying on the moon. Most of my classmates were like me, science teachers) (or future teachers of science, but not the physics teacher. Few of us had little knowledge of physics is in progress. A student but it was different. He was a student in the physics department, not the Department of Education.

The man I? Ll call John gave me an insight into some problems with the traditional scientific education in general and physics education in particular. I expected to include a real advantage for the solution of problems and scenarios, but it did not. Without using formulas and calculations to be met, he seemed lost. John has not been a better understanding of major ideas in physics as the rest of the class. The only area in which it showed superior performance in mathematical skills. I don? “I want to underestimate the importance of mathematics, but as they are capable of solving equations, but does not seem to explain the ideas into words, like a dancer who is fit enough to perform spectacular stunts, but not, musicality and expressiveness.

Now I am aware that there are good chances that John had this special introductory level was assigned because his teachers realized he had an unusually poor understanding of theoretical physics. However, I think it is a more symptomatic. Too often, the teaching of science in a way that emphasizes the structure on the justification of memory. These classes may seem to be rigorous, but the promotion of high performance, it is often raises interest in science and most victims do not retain important knowledge to complete the audit. Given the emphasis on the details of solving problems, it is possible to do so in such a category, without having to really see the big picture.

In physics, there is currently a movement to correct this problem by teaching the material, first in a conceptual manner, with relatively little mathematics. The goal of theoretical physics, mathematics is not eliminated, but rather used as a tool for ideas. In this model, all students should leave school with the opportunity to discuss orally Newtonian physics and precise qualitative statements about the physical world. Students with a desire to deepen their knowledge of physics and then go to more math courses, intensive physical quantity.

Based on my very positive experiences with theoretical physics, I’m obviously in favor of this approach. Yes, I would like to see the other sciences, including chemistry, take note of this trend. If you want to learn more about theoretical physics, I recommend Conceptual Physics for Everyone by Paul Hewitt and Physics by Inquiry by Lillian McDermott.

Oh, and John? At the end of class, it was good to discuss the resolution of equations, and in a position to physics in words, too.