My colleagues and I here at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania
have been discussing the introductory undergraduate physics sequence here.
Actually, we have two sequences. One is for engineers, chemists and
physicists, and utilizes calculus. The other is for life scientists,
earth/space scientists and middle-school teachers, and does not utilize
calculus.
The sequence is "supposed" to include rotation, fluids, thermodynamics,
oscillations and waves (including sound and optics), in addition to
mechanics and E&M. The problem is that we find it difficult to cover the
standard curricumum. Typically, many things are left out (usually
themodynamics and/or oscillations). It would be nice to also include
radioactivity and some nuclear physics in the algebra-based course, also.
We are thinking about changing the content in the sequence in order to
best make use of the time we have, but are hesitant about doing anything
without first seeing if anything comparable has been tried elsewhere (and
with positive results). I list some of the ideas we have talked about
below (for a 14-week semester, not including the finals week). If you
have tried them or have other ideas, I would appreciate hearing about it.
Idea A: (approximately our current sequence)
first term: kinematics (4 weeks)
Newton's Laws and Gravitation (4 weeks)
Energy and Momentum (2 weeks)
Circular motion, SHM and some rotation (2 weeks)
Fluids (2 weeks)
second term:electrostatics (6 weeks)
DC circuits (3 weeks)
Magnetism and AC circuits (3 weeks)
Geometric optics (2 weeks)
Idea B: (first term covers discrete physics; second term covers
continuous physics)
first term: kinematics (4 weeks)
Newton's Laws (2 weeks)
Forces and Fields (2 week)
Circular Motion and Rotation (2 weeks)
Energy and Momentum (2 weeks)
Nuclear and radioactivity (2 weeks)
second term:fluids (2 weeks)
electrostatics (2 weeks)
DC circuits (3 weeks)
Oscillations and Waves (2 weeks)
Magnetism and AC circuits (2 weeks)
Geometric and physical optics (3 weeks)
Idea C: (a mile wide and an inch deep)
cover everything but not in depth.
Idea D: replace one topic with something else
Idea E: replace with a three-semester sequence
Obviously, we have thought more about idea B than C, D or E, but whatever
the idea, we are very hesitant about trying it without some empirical
support that it will work better than what we are currently doing. Unless
there is a good reason to change, we really don't want to be different
from other colleges. For one, that will complicate the transfer of the
coursework from another college to ours (and visa-versa).
We are focusing mainly on the algebra-based sequence because we feel that
those taking the calculus-based sequence are more likely to have further
coursework that will fill in the gaps for us. However, information on
either is appreciated.
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| Robert Cohen Department of Physics |
| East Stroudsburg University |
| bbq@esu.edu East Stroudsburg, PA 18301 |
| http://www.esu.edu/~bbq/ (570) 422-3428 |
| **note new area code** |
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