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The Introductory University Physics Project

APR 01, 1993
Models are being developed for o new calculus‐based introductory physics course that would incorporate more 20th‐century physics.
John S. Rigden
Donald F. Holcomb
Rosanne DiStefano

The last period of extensive curriculum reform in physics occurred about 30 years ago. The objectives of that earlier effort were sweeping. The high school physics course was an early target, and the Physical Science Study Committee was created to effect its reform. The Commission on College Physics, formed in June 1960, had as its objective the revitalization of the entire undergraduate physics curriculum. In the wake of this period of reform a new genre of introductory textbooks, modeled on the successful textbook authored by David Halliday and Robert Resnick, became standard. These texts followed the more mathematical emphasis favored after World War II but gave more attention to worked‐out examples and other pedagogical elements as well as more substantial exercises and problems than was characteristic of their predecessors

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References

  1. 1. G. C. Finlay, Am. J. Phys. 28, 286 (1960).https://doi.org/AJPIAS

  2. 2. “Progress Report of the Commission on College Physics,” Am. J. Phys. 30, 665 (1962).https://doi.org/AJPIAS

  3. 3. A. van Heuvelen, Am. J. Phys. 59, 891 (1991).https://doi.org/AJPIAS

  4. 4. L. B. Resnick, Education and Learning to Think, Natl. Acad. P., Washington, D.C. (1987);
    M. B. Rowe, ed., What Research Says to the Science Teacher, vols. 2 (1979) and 6 (1990), Natl. Sci. Teachers Assoc., Washington, D.C.

  5. 5. IUPP Newsletter 1, available from L. Recanati, AIP, 335 East 45th Street, New York NY 10017.

  6. 6. P. Morrison, Am. J. Phys. 32, 441 (1964).https://doi.org/AJPIAS

More about the Authors

John S. Rigden. American Institute of Physics.

Donald F. Holcomb. Cornell University.

Rosanne DiStefano. New York Institute of Technology.

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This Content Appeared In
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Volume 46, Number 4

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