"Physics first" and high school teachers.

Abstract

A quote attributed to me in the Random Samples item “Flocking to physics” (9 Jan., p. 166) may have given the wrong impression. I was asked to comment on the recently released American Institute of Physics survey indicating that 61% of high school teachers surveyed rejected the “physics first” approach, in which physics is taught to high school students before chemistry and biology. In response to a question about what factors I thought might cause teachers to reject the “physics first” idea, I replied that pedagogical objections would certainly be one, but that inertia is always a problem when a major change is suggested. I certainly did not mean to give the impression that I believe that high school teachers are complacent or lazy, as the quote might seem to imply. To the contrary, I believe that high school teachers have one of the hardest jobs in our society. The teachers I met at a recent workshop on “physics first” were truly impressive in their dedication and willingness to try new ideas. The main point I tried to make, which was not reported, was that the survey is unfortunately already out of date because it is 3 to 4 years old. This is a long time in the relatively short history of the “physics first” movement. There are now several entire school districts (for example, San Diego) and some 300 individual schools that have adopted the sequence. I suspect that a new survey would show very different results.