"Leadership in Freshman Physics" is an NSF-funded professional development program designed to support 9th grade teacher leaders in the successful implementation of a "Physics First" or curriculum sequence that places physics prior to biology and chemistry. Leadership is viewed as an essential component in the initial success…

Modules of physics instructional materials, each focusing on a particular physical system of interest to technical students, are being developed at four separate centers and coordinated by a Technical Physics Project Steering Committee. A typical module, constituting from one to three weeks of a physics course, will include a statement of…

Explains the Commission on College Physics' (CCP) change in priorities from preparing future physicists toward providing more appropriate physics courses for the nonscience college students. Discusses the development of the CCP conference which lead to the Physical Science for Nonscience Students (PSNS) project. Describes the activities which have…

THIS SPECIAL ISSUE OF "PHYSICS TODAY" REVIEWS THE STATUS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PHYSICS, AS WELL AS COLLEGE PHYSICS AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE. SECONDARY LEVEL PROJECTS INCLUDE PHYSICAL SCIENCE STUDY COMMITTEE PHYSICS, HARVARD PROJECT PHYSICS, THE ENGINEERING CONCEPTS CURRICULUM PROJECT, AND THE NUFFIELD PROJECT. THOSE AT THE COLLEGE LEVEL…

Funded by the National Science Foundation, Dartmouth College's Project COEXIST (Computer Oriented Experiment in Science Teaching) had the main goal of development of a new introductory sequence of calculus courses accompanied by a carefully coordinated new elementary physics sequence and a new introductory engineering course, relying heavily on…

Presents an annotated list of 13 programs which are used to discuss such physical aspects as trajectories, refraction indices, equipotential lines, force fields, computer plots, kinematics applications, Fermat's principle, and measurements of electricity and magnetism knowledge. (CC)

Discusses use of the modified Keller method to teach three semesters of physics courses to groups of 10-12 students. Indicates student performance is markedly improved on the final examinations. (CC)

Defines all recurrence relations used in the Nuffield course, to solve first- and second-order differential equations, and describes a typical algorithm for computer generation of solutions. (Author/GA)

Describes how a Physical Science Study Committee(PSSC) course was adapted to the individualized format known as the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) and introduced to universities and secondary schools. (LS)

Provides an explanation and background material for the use of time lines to predict positions of five planets. (DS)

In order to study the mechanism of student interest in a physical science course when the majority of students were interested in fields other than science, a system of measuring instruments was applied for detection of significant differences between two teaching methods used for this course. The study utilized the measured responses of 105…

Presents excerpts of an interview with Philip Morrison, Institute Professor of Physics at M.I.T., who has made significant contributions to areas ranging from high-energy astrophysics to elementary school science education. (Author/SK)

Reports the results of a national survey on teaching introductory physics at the college level. Lists the names of the most frequently used textbooks, reasons for changing textbooks used earlier, information regarding laboratory manuals, and instructor's comments on this type of course. (YP)

Discusses a course proposal which concentrates on fewer topics and covering the topics in greater depth. Proposes a sequence in which each topic is introduced phenomenologically, the theory is developed, and the applications are discussed. Uses optics as an example. Lists some disadvantages and advantages of the proposed topical organization. (YP)