A Tale of Separate Paths: Real Physics versus Physics Education in the 20 th Century

1. A Tale of Separate Paths: Real Physics versus Physics Education in the 20th Century Julie Mancini September 2010

2. The Question • How does what is being taught as “physics” in high schools reflect what is actually accepted as true or current in the field of physics? • At what point do we decide when to teach something new, a new discovery? • How long after these discoveries are made do they begin to be taught in high schools? • Examine these questions specifically through models for the atom and Einstein’s major theories (photoelectric effect, relativity)

3. Physics Curriculum1890-1930 • I still need more information here, but it is important to know what the curriculum was during the time that major advancements in physics were being made, to know the starting point of the curriculum after these changes occurred.

4. Advancements in Physics 1890-1930 • Young’s Double Slit experiment- basis for future experiments in discovering quantum mechanics and wave, particle duality • 1887- Discovery of electon, J.J. Thomson. Plum-pudding model of the atom. • 1886,1898- Discovery of radioactivity, Henri Bequerel and Marie Curie • 1888-1899, photoelectric effect experiements • 1895- Discovery of x-rays, Wilhem Roentgen • 1901, quantized energy, E=hv, solution to ultraviolet catastrophe, by Max Planck • 1905, proposal of light as wave-like particles called photons, Einstein • 1905, Special Relativity, Einstein [3]

5. Advancements in Physics 1890-1930 • 1909, discovery and quantization of charge on electron, Robert Millikan • 1909-1913, Ernest Rutherford model of atom • 1913-1915, Niels Bohr develops quantitative model for hydrogen atom • 1914-1916, general relativity, Einstein • 1920’s, wave-particle duality extended to particles, de Broglie wavelength, Louis de Broglie • Mid 1920’s, Schroedinger equation, Erwin Schroedinger • 1927, Heisenberg Uncertainty principle, Werner Heisenberg • Early 1930’s, quantum mechanics solidified by work of Paul Dirac, Wolfgang Pauli, and John von Neumann [3]

6. Physics Curriculum 1930-1960’s • “Not yet influenced by progressives, scientists, or government initiatives, the type of physics taught in American high schools in the 1930s was more concerned with Newton than with Einstein. A typical high school syllabus, such as the one developed by the New York State Board of Regents, included only the topics of ‘classical’ physics: mechanics, gravity, heat, sound, light, magnetism, and electricity. The syllabus omitted new advances in ‘modern’ physics, including relativity, quantum theory, and atomic structure, as well as the technological applications of physics in every day life” [1]

7. Physics Curriculum 1930-1960’s • Educators concerned with dropping numbers of students enrolled in high school physics classes • 6.27% of all high school students were taking physics in 1934. That figure dropped to 5.60% by 1940, and to 5.49% by 1947 [2] • In order to combat these falling numbers, progressives in education moved to making physics “more applicable” to real life by asking practical application questions

8. Physics Curriculum 1930-1960’s • Sequence of topics in physics textbooks did not change in postwar years, but the method of presentation did. • 8 of the most commonly used textbooks (published between 1952 and 1955) contained chapters on mechanics, heat, sound, light, magnetism, and electricity, but now contained “practical” questions such as “How will the presence of the lid affect the time required to cook a potato?” or “What is the coefficient of friction between an automobile tire and the road?” [2] • Most of these textbooks did not address nuclear physics more than trivially • This is half a century after the discovery of these huge and major advancements!!

9. Revisions to High School Physics Curriculum, PSSC • 1955- NSF funds group to review textbooks: Physical Sciences Study Committee (PSSC) • ``Group of prominent physicists began what became a high-profile effort to pull secondary school physics education away from progressive philosophy’’ including Nobel-prize winning physicists I.I. Rabi and Edward Purcell [2] pg. 338 • Believed that current physics textbooks failed to keep up with latest scientific advances

10. Revisions to High School Physics Curriculum, PSSC • “What the committee produced resembled no previous physics curriculum, nor was it intended to. Claiming that more advances in physics had been made in the previous twenty years than in the two thousand years before that, [the committee] believed that all high school physics curricula were obsolete because of a fifty-year time lag between advances in the discipline and curriculum development and dissemination” [2] pg. 338

11. Revisions to High School Physics Curriculum, PSSC • PSSC books focused on the universe, optics and waves, advanced mechanics, and electricity and modern physics • Examined wave-particle duality of light • From 1960 to 1975, “11% of all high school physics classes would use PSSC Physics.”

12. Legacy of PSSC in Current High School Physics • PSSC Physics is still used. 7th edition published in 1991 • How revised is this newest edition? • What does it include? • Same book, which is based in the only revision of physics textbooks in the 1900’s, is still used and is the basis of physics classes

13. Bigger Questions and Issues • Who decides when something is “outdated”? • Is it worth teaching outdated subjects because they apply in certain situations (i.e. Newton’s laws) or help teach critical thinking skills? • Could these skills not also be obtained and taught through more current subjects?

14. Bibliography