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To: pschoch@NAC.NET, PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
Subject: Re: High School Equivalence
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By the way, we RESPECT academic freedom. The topics to be covered are
specified, but the content is up to the instructor -- as is the pace.
The labs must be equivalent to the labs we do at the college. If you
want to do more, that's OK too. The tests are ours (the college's) to
insure the scores are comparable with the class being done at the
college. We review each H.S. program on a case by case basis. We
happen to have a great relationshp between the local H.S. physics
teachers and myself (a TYC teacher). If you treat each other equally,
there seems to be very little friction, and much to be gained!

That sounds a lot better than what I imagined the first time you wrote
about your system. But...

1) How can the content be up to the instructor, when they're taking your
test?

2) The lab equivalence could potentially be a real pain, given the typical
disparity between secondary and tertiary resources. Has that been a
problem?

By the way, I NEVER said I know more about teaching Physics than anyone
else -- I just HATE the damn standardized tests!

Sorry...didn't mean to imply that you did say that. That tends to be the
general assumption. It's common for high schools to try to imitate
colleges because that's what the better students (or, actually, their
parents) want; the assumption is in part that college courses approach
subjects in the "right" way. Some years I have to spend a lot of time
dealing with that assumption, and it bugs me.

As for AP, etc. tests, I have really mixed feelings about them. In
general, I don't think it's appropriate to structure a first-year
high-school course around them...certainly not in physics. If I'm not very
careful, the focus becomes learning physics for the test instead of
learning physics because its fascinating and practical. In particular, I
think the AP C tests -Mechanics and E&M- are not appropriate for first-
year courses, advanced or not, because students come away with the
impression that that's all there is to physics.

Maybe if you just did Mechanics AP and other stuff. Does Dan Burns care to
comment here?

Digby Willard
Central High School
St. Paul, MN