Physics--Honing the Intellect

[Mike Ugawa <mugawa@QUARK.SFSU.EDU>]

As part of a long comment relating primarily to gender issues, Margaret
Mazzolini wrote the following, which is of interest in a broader
context--the issue of the extent to which our courses should emphasize
"the real world":

> c) Physics is often taught in an esoteric "ideal inextensible ropes,
> weightless springs, etc etc" fashion which has its academic advantages
> but which can be interpreted by the students as meaning that it has
> little to do with the real world, and this is particularly of concern to
> female students (unsubstantiated assertion No. 2 - actually, I think
> that there is research to back this up, but I'm too lazy to hunt it
> out). Witness some of the more popular threads on this listserver such
> as the recent one about the shaving ability of razors with male versus
> female body hair. OK, it's freedom of expression, but really!
>
> Sure the end of the Chapter in the text (and the end of the school
> lesson) usually pays lip service to showing how the Physics taught does
> connect to the real world, but in many cases we've lost the 'hearts and
> minds' before we get to that point (if we don't leave those bits out due
> to overcrowded curricula).

My comments address this general issue of the extent to which our courses
emphasize "the real world." This has significance to students of both
genders, and actually, I would be surprised if there would be any reason
that one gender would be more concerned about this than the other--but
that is NOT the point here.

I teach at the high school level and I am well aware that the current
trend toward "physics for everyone" has brought making the courses
relevant to the students' lives to the forefront as an educational
strategy. For some student populations this is probably essential from the
standpoint of maintaining a manageable classroom. Furthermore, the fact
that physics can and does explain so well so much of what surrounds us on
a daily basis is definitely one of its most attractive qualities. This is
certainly one of the two qualities of the study of physics that inspired
me to complete a degree in the subject in preparation for becoming a
teacher.

I would like to make a case, however, for the other quality of the study
of physics that was equally motivating to me--the sheer intellectual
accomplishment involved in solving rigorous physics problems involving a
challenging physical analysis (including those that may, but not
necessarily, involve a lengthy set of calculational steps). In many ways,
physics and chemistry are the last bastions of the kind of logic and
applied quantitative reasoning that characterize a rigorous treatment of
these subjects. So much of the rest of the educational spectrum has gone
over to a much more introspective, "...and how do YOU feel about
that?...," approach. It is essential that the the experiences of a well
educated student include the logic and applied quantitative reasoning that
only those of us who teach physics and chemistry can offer in the current
educational climate.

I know that physics is now being taught to students from a much broader
range of ability and background levels than was once the case, and I
recognize that not all student populations would be best served by placing
a heavy emphasis on the approach that I call "honing the intellect" for
its own sake. However many of us do have at least some classes composed of
students that are potentially the intellectuals of the next generation. (I
would like to say that any student headed for college should be considered
as having this potential.) For these students, honing the intellect and
introducing them to the sheer joy of purely intellectual achievements is
as valid and laudable a goal as the more vocation-inspiring aspects of
the subject that are addressed by "real world relevance" alone. A true
appreciation of what the study of physics has to offer must combine both
the place of physics in the physical world around us and in the the
intellectual world within our minds.

Respectfully,
Mike Ugawa
St. Ignatius College Prep, San Francisco
mugawa@quark.sfsu.edu