Matter & Interactions: Models & Modern Concepts in Introductory Physics

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We are developing educational materials to bring modern content intointroductory physics. With the aid of previous NSF funding we have createda new calculus-based introductory textbook on mechanics and thermal physicsthat addresses the following problems: 1) Many students have alreadystudied mechanics in high school and are bored by repeating nearly the samematerial in college. 2) Students and instructors are unhappy with the lackof contemporary science in the traditional course. 3) Students in thetraditional course are not involved in the modeling of physical systems,including making idealizations, approximations and simplifying assumptions.4) Thermodynamics and mechanics are traditionally treated as completelyseparate topics, rather than as an integrated science based on a smallnumber of fundamental principles. The new curriculum emphasizesatomic-level description and analysis, and physical modeling includingcomputer modeling. The material deliberately looks to the students verydifferent from what they had studied earlier. Thermal physics is integratedwith mechanics throughout the textbook, climaxing with an accessiblestatistical mechanical treatment of the Einstein solid.We believe that the new textbook provides a needed alternative totraditional texts, but it is not yet pedagogically robust andtransportable. It already works well with exceptionally strong students;this is important because such students are at special risk of boredom, andwe do not want to lose them. However, we would like to make thisinteresting subject matter accessible not just to the honors student butalso to the average student who has had a decent high school physicspreparation. It is also important to make the curriculum teachable by otherinstructors; this requires the creation of additional kinds of materials,including an instructor's manual and support packages for introducingcomputer modeling into the course.We propose to continue work on pedagogical aspects of the reform, withfurther revisions of the textbook in response to our teaching experiencesand ongoing formative assessment activities. A key component will be anational beta test in Fall 1999 for which we are currently recruitingparticipants. We believe that we now have something well worth teaching butwe need to address shortcomings in how well we and others can teach it. Wealso propose to revise and extend our earlier E&M textbook to match the newmaterial, thus providing a coherent, modern one-year introductory physicstextbook. We propose to engage in additional evaluation and disseminationactivities.