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Haborix said:I'd never even considered that differential calculus wasn't foundational at the early stages.
Morris's comment referred to a generation ago so that would have been about 1935. so I don't think he was referring to absolute differential calculus since in 1965 absolute calculus was not needed for (Jackson) electrodynamics or Stat Mech nor is it still today(?).mpresic3 said:It could be that what Morison is referring to is the "absolute differential calculus" which is more advanced than is typically taught to first year students
Marc Reisner makes this point in "Cadillac Desert," a book about, in part, about hydroelectric dam projects on major rivers in the US. His point was that the Columbia River and those of the Tennessee Valley Authority made it possible to refine large quantities of aluminum for B-17s and B-29s as well as to power centrifuges at Hanford, WA and Oak Ridge, TN for uranium enrichment.Vanadium 50 said:One could argue that WW2 was won with technology (atomic bomb, cavity magnetron) and while I think this goes to far, it is true that it was won with industry.
Well, in my opinion, it is much better to teach materials that are suitable to the level of the students. I will refer to some educational literature to support this idea (also to try to reach to some generalizations and be objective).jedishrfu said:I guess my college was compactifying things by using it at the undergrad level which explains why Schiff's content was so high-level for us poor undergrads.
NTRODUCTORY PHYSICS EDUCATION
GROWTH IS FORCING changes in introductory physics education as well as in other parts of physics. The teacher of introductory courses now has more physics to teach to more students. He is adapting his courses to incorporate new points of view, new concepts and new facts; he is changing his techniques to deal with the growth of the student body and to use new educational aids.
But the growth of physics enrollments has not kept pace with the growth of the student body. As Susanne Ellis points out in this issue, the percentage of college students taking a first physics course has declined; high-school enrollments reflect the same trend. There is growing concern that physicists are failing to communicate the rudiments of physics to the generally educated man, that we may be in danger of losing contact with our society as a whole. Thus, somewhat paradoxically, physicists face the problems of a growth that is large yet not large enough.
For this special issue of PHYSICS TODAY we have solicited descriptions of some of the changes proposed and introduced to deal with these problems. The changes cover a wide spectrum of techniques and emphases, and we have classified them according to their corresponding student groups, those taking pre-college courses and those taking college courses. In the first category we have descriptions of the Physical Science Study Curriculum, Harvard Project Physics, the Engineering Concepts Curriculum Project and Britain's Nuffield physics teaching project.
Uri Haber-Schaim discusses the PSSC course, now ten years old, and its younger brother Introductory Physical Science. Gerald Holton summarizes the status of PSSC's prospective competitor, Harvard Project Physics. The British response to the need to update physics teaching is described in Eric Roger's report on the Nuffield teaching project.
An interesting attempt is being made to present physical science within the conceptual framework of systems engineering. Edward David and John Truxal discuss ECCP, which is developing such a course for highschool students. V. Lawrence Parsegian describes a similarly oriented college-level course intended to give nonscientists an integrated, philosophical view of physical science. Another college-level course for nonscientists is discussed by the staff of the project Physical Science for Nonscience Students.
NO description of contemporary physics education would be adequate without mention of the Feynman lectures, the Berkeley course and the new MIT course. Howard Stabler tells some of his experience teaching from the first volume of Feynman; A. Carl Helmholz describes the Berkeley course; and Robert Hulsizer presents a brief note on the MIT project.
All the stir in college physics education has created a need for an organization to serve as a clearing house for ideas and to act as a coordinator. John Fowler relates how the Commission on College Physics is working toward these ends.
Despite much outward enthusiasm for the new courses, many teachers are wary of the changes. They fear valuable features of the traditional approach may be lost without compensating gains. Mark Zemansky contributes a note of caution along these lines, reminding us that there is far from unanimous agreement on the virtues of these reforms.
PHYSICS TODAY • MARCH 1967 • 25
THERE ARE NOW ABOUT 800 colleges and universities in the United States that offer physics courses at bachelor-degree level. There are therefore about 800 physics curricula, most of which are either new and to some extent experimental, or old, unsatisfactory and due to be replaced soon.
To investigate the current state of physics programs PHYSICS TODAY planned this special issue, a sequel to the issue on Introductory Physics Education last March (reprints of that issue are available on request). It is meant to be representative of schools of all sizes, from small four-year colleges to large universities with graduate schools, where physics is taught as a major subject. Our 11 contributors were invited to explain the philosophy underlying their own choice of curriculum, and we have gathered and tabulated statistical information from a random sample of American colleges and universities to see if there are any significant differences between large and small schools.
We invited contributions from five four-year colleges that provide an unusually high proportion of PhD candidates. Emphasis on student research and special projects at these five schools may be one reason for their success although, clearly, any program can be only as good as the faculty that teaches it. Charles A. Fowler Jr and William L. Parker write about student research activity at Pomona College and Reed College. Robert A. Reitz explains the unusual three-term year at Carleton College and tells us why he finds it a satisfactory basis for his physics curriculum. Swarthmore College has an honors program for bright students, described for us by William C. Elmore; Villa Madonna College has strong ties with its alumni, and George K. Miner explains in his article how he finds their suggestions useful when designing his curriculum. We invited articles from physicists at some large universities, too, to see how their curricula are planned. Burton K. Moyer, of the University of California at Berkeley, is currently examining upper-division courses to ensure a good match to the introductory Berkeley Physics Course. Mark G. Inghram, University of Chicago, Thomas R. Carver, Princeton University, and Hugh T. Richards, University of Wisconsin at Madison, are all concerned with the provision of a sufficient variety of courses to suit students with different aims: graduate study, direct employment in industry or high-school teaching.
Our fifth contributor from a large university is Clifford C. Butler of Imperial College, London. His article illustrates the differences between American undergraduate courses and those in England, where specialization at high school enables the universities to teach more advanced topics at undergraduate level and to lessen the load of course work on graduate students. Imperial College would be called an institute of technology in the US as there are no humanities departments; it has long been known as a difficult college for a student to get into but an easy one for him to drop out of; so if the courses that Butler describes appear to be exceptionally advanced and concentrated, we must remember that he has only the very best students in his classes.
Finally John M. Fowler, of the Commission on College Physics, reports on interdisciplinary curricula that are being used in some schools. He tells us of courses that have succeeded and of courses that have failed; success appears to depend on the quality of the teaching staff as much as on details of course design.
• PHYSICS TODAY • MARCH 1968 • 23
“My objections to (1) the inclusion of large amounts of relativity and quantum theory, (2) the indiscriminate skipping of large chunks of physics, like statics, acoustics and geometrical optics, (3) the attempt to induce "depth of insight," (4) the emphasis on history and philosophy and (5) the ' harping on "scientific method" at the expense of "facts," still stand and I shall therefore not repeat them.“
“These lectures have an informality, a warmth and a flair that are absolutely unique, and they show an erudition and a depth of insight that is fantastic. They are excellent as preparation for the PhD qualifying exam of a doctoral candidate and as a source of inspiration for physics teachers some of whom are not capable of understanding Volume 3.”