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The Introductory Calculus‐Based Physics Textbook

DEC 01, 1996
Physics professors who teach the introductory course frequently complain about the first‐year textbooks. Here are some of the books being developed in response.

DOI: 10.1063/1.881581

Joseph Amato

Each year, more than 150 000 college students across the US enroll in calculus‐based introductory physics courses. Most of these courses are taught in the traditional mode, with students sitting passively through two or more lectures per week and reporting once or twice a week to recitation classes and laboratory sessions. Students often plow through as many as 500 pages of equation‐laden text each semester and complete one or two written assignments per week. And faculty members expend considerable effort conducting the whole enterprise.

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References

  1. 1. D. Hestenes, M. Wells, Phys. Teach. 30, 159 (1992).

  2. 2. See, for example, L. C. McDermott, Am. J. Phys. 61, 295 (1993). https://doi.org/AJPIAS
    A. Arons, A Guide to Introductory Physics Teaching, Wiley, New York, 1990.

  3. 3. See, for example, R. R. Hake, to be published in Am. J. Phys.
    A. Halloun, D. Hestenes, Am. J. Phys. 53, 1043 (1985).https://doi.org/AJPIAS

  4. 4. E. Mazur, Peer Instruction: A User’s Manual, Prentice Hall Series in Educational Innovation, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J., 1997.

More about the Authors

Joseph Amato. Colgate University, Hamilton, New York.

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This Content Appeared In
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Volume 49, Number 12

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