We can adjust introductory physics courses to the modern understanding of physics and the way to teach

Abstract

Students’ genuine understanding (conceptual and operational) of physics is the goal of the majority of physics educators, who agree that the introductory physics course should possess the following features: reflect the currently adopted understanding of nature (the state in the subject matter), employ scientific method (philosophy of science) and expose it to the learner, and reflect our current understanding of the learning process taking place (research in physics education). We bring here two examples of suggested changes, the result of research in physics education, geared to improve the content of the introductory physics course in accordance with the above mentioned principles. More detailed information is available in the quoted publications.