Re: Comments about HS Physics Texts

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@MINDSPRING.COM>]

>        At Gilmour Academy (private prep school) we are considering
> changing to a more rigorous physics text for 11th grade high school
> physics.
>
>        We are looking most closely at the following:
>
>        1) Zitewicz & Neff: Physics, Principles & Problems
>                Pub:  Merrill (thru Glencoe/McGraw-Hill)
>
>        2) Serway & Faughn: Physics
>                Pub:  Holt Rinehart & Winston
>
>        We would appreciate your comments.  Thanks,
>
>                                        Ken Kane
>                                        Gilmour Academy
>                                        Gates Mills, OH
You didn't say what your current text is, so I don't know what you are
upgrading from and to. We offer physics to 11th and 12th graders (they are
all we have) at two introductory levels. For our less mathematically
sophisitcated students we offer a course using Zitzewitz. The latest
version (released last Sept.) is a reasonably good text for that level,
although we deal with a few topics that are omitted from this book.

For our students who have more advanced math skills, we offer a course
using Cutnall & Johnson. This text is pretty much equivalent to Serway &
Faughan.

The bottom line here is that the two texts you mention are not
interchangeable. Zitzewitz is a high school text. It is probably one of the
best of the lot, but it is designed for high schools. Serway & Faughan is a
college non-calculus text, and although these texts are becoming more
common in high school "honors-level" courses, that was not the intended
market. In general, I would say that a course based on Serway would be a
good preparation for the AP "B" level test, and that a course from
Zitzewitz could be the basis for the SAT-II Physics test (with some extra
material).

So before you switch to one of these two books, be sure you know which
brand of students you will be dealing with. If your students are all
motivated honors-level students, go with Serway (or one of the
equivalents). If they are more run-of-the-mill high school students, stick
with Zitzewitz. BTW, if you adopt Zitzewitz, the publisher will toss in a
pretty extensive set of ancillary materials for each physics teacher with
the package. I don't know what kind of promotional deal the publisher of
Serway has.

Good luck. Textbook selection is always kind of a crap-shoot.

Hugh

Hugh Haskell
<mailto://hhaskell@mindspring.com>

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
have to..
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