Earlier today, students received a notice from the science department alerting them to upcoming changes in the Honors Physics curriculum. After reviewing the responses to various feedback surveys, teachers have decided that too much class time is spent lecturing. The remainder of the semester will be focused on project-based experiential learning, with less memorization and more emphasis on real-world understanding. Activities will include dropping objects to prove gravity, exploring Isaac Newton through the lens of gender, and analysis of Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl to better understand the physics of sound. Multiple class periods per unit will also shift to include Harkness discussions, deepening student analysis of questions like “How do modern societies express entropy through art?” and “What is the significance of juxtaposition between wave and particle in light?”
Additionally, all assessments will be replaced with personal essays where students will discuss how different laws of physics impact their life and sense of self. In-class writing assignments in the CER, or Claim-Evidence-Reasoning, format will be adjusted to CIM, or Claim-Interpretation-Meaning, pieces. Students will be able to make claims based on their personal opinions and be graded on their prose and understanding of the deeper impact of physics concepts on the lives of those in the modern world. “In other departments, students learn to challenge traditional narratives and embrace subjectivity,” said Mr. Boccuzzi, “So we thought, ‘why are we still making them learn equations and “objective facts” in science?’ Now, students will have the opportunity to explore their own personal realities and advocate for changes to Newton’s laws that better fit the modern world.”
One of the biggest motivations for these shifts, department leaders elaborated, was the futility of teaching the same theories schools have emphasized for centuries. “Take, for example, the theory of gravity,” said Ms. Erickson. “It’s just a guess. We aren’t teaching both sides of the story, and students aren’t developing the critical thinking skills needed to challenge it.”
These changes will take place immediately, and the department says we can expect similar changes in Advanced Physics electives through the end of the second semester. In the meantime, Mr. Milliano says students should “embrace not knowing” and “learn to live with getting the general concept without the burden of understanding.” Sophomores can expect to begin the first new unit, Qualitative Representations of Conservation of Energy during the Industrial Revolution (1700), next Monday.
