Harvard Project Physics Progress Report
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The Project Physics Course, Then and Now
The Project Physics Course, Then and Now The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Holton, Gerald. 2003. The Project Physics Course, Then and Now. Science and Education 12 (8): 779-786. doi: 10.1023/ B:SCED.0000004544.55635.40 Published Version 10.1023/B:SCED.0000004544.55635.40 Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:37852650 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA The Project Physics Course, Then and Now GERALD HOLTON Jefferson Physical Laboratory Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138 E-mail: [email protected] I have been asked to speak today (at this November 2001 Annual History of Science Society meeting), as the program has it, on "The Project Physics Course, Then and Now." I do so gladly, but must alert you that it is the story of a roller-coaster ride--up, down, and up again, as you will see. In its first few editions, Project Physics was a nation-wide physics course at the introductory level for high-school students in the United States, as well as in colleges. What this audience may want to know most about is no doubt the way in which the design of the course, in addition to physical science itself, used the history and methodologies of science and the interaction of science and society. -
Gerald Holton Bio
Gerald Holton Bio Gerald Holton is an American physicist, historian of science, and educator, whose professional interests also include philosophy of science and the fostering of careers of young men and women. He is Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Professor of History of Science, Em, at Harvard University1. His contributions range from physical science and its history to their professional and public understanding, from studies on gender problems and ethics in science careers to those on the role of immigrants. These have been acknowledged by an unusually wide spectrum of appointments and honors, from physics to initiatives in education and other national, societal issues, to contributions for which he was selected, as the first scientist, to give the tenth annual Jefferson Lecture that the National Endowment for the Humanities describes as, “the highest honor the federal government confers for distinguished achievement in the humanities”2. However, his life story is also punctuated by improbable rescues during the dark time of the 20th century. EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION Holton was born on May 23, 1922 in Berlin3, when Germany was in turmoil and sliding toward disaster. In June, the Foreign Minister, Walter Rathenau, was one of the more than 350 politicians and intellectuals assassinated by fascist gangs that already commanded the streets. 4 Albert Einstein was told he was next on the list, so he fled the country. Holton's parents were Austrians: Emanuel, an Attorney-at-Law specializing in International Law, and Regina, a physiotherapist. Forced by the rise of fascism in Germany, and one physical attack on the young family, they returned early to Vienna. -
Records, 1902-1965
Records, 1902-1965 Finding aid prepared by Smithsonian Institution Archives Smithsonian Institution Archives Washington, D.C. Contact us at [email protected] Table of Contents Collection Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Historical Note.................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 3 Descriptive Entry.............................................................................................................. 4 Names and Subjects ...................................................................................................... 7 Container Listing ............................................................................................................. 9 Series 1: ORGANIZATION AND INCORPORATION OF SCIENCE SERVICE, MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, AND RELATED CORRESPONDENCE, 1919-1943......................................................... 9 Series 2: CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DIRECTOR (EDWIN E. SLOSSON) AND SENIOR STAFF OF SCIENCE SERVICE, 1920-1929........................................... 12 Series 3: BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL, BOOKS, ARTICLES, AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS OF EDWIN E. SLOSSON, 1902-1929....................................... -
The Project Physics Course, Then and Now⋆
Science & Education 12: 779–786, 2003. 779 © 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. The Project Physics Course, Then and Now GERALD HOLTON Jefferson Physical Laboratory, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA I have been asked to speak today, as the program has it, on “The Project Physics Course, Then and Now.” I do so gladly, but must alert you that it is the story of a roller-coaster ride – up, down, and up again, as you will see. In its first few editions, Project Physics was a nation-wide physics course at the introductory level, chiefly for the 11th- and 12th-grade high-school student in the United States, but also used in some colleges. What the audience of this IHPST meeting may want to know most about is no doubt the way in which the design of the course, in addition to physical science itself, used the history and methodologies of science and the interaction of science and society. I will come to that shortly. But this will be better understood if I say first something about the history by which Project Physics came about, and even what its intended future is. Beginnings It all started very innocently, and as so often in life, with consequences one could not have foreseen. In 1962, a visitor came into my office at Harvard University’s Physics Department. I had not met him. The young man had an engaging person- ality, and introduced himself as a student, getting his doctorate at Harvard from the Graduate School of Education under Professor Fletcher Watson, who long before had been persuaded by President Conant to change from a professor of astronomy to professor of science education, so as to bolster the Education School in that department. -
National Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics Report Synopsis
Meltzer, Plisch, and Vokos Plisch, and Vokos Meltzer, Transforming the Preparation of Transforming the Preparation of Physics Teachers: A Call to Action of Physics Teachers: the Preparation Transforming Physics Teachers: A Call to Action A Call to Action The Task Force found that, except for a handful of isolated models of excellence, the national A Report by the Task Force on landscape of the professional preparation Teacher Education in Physics (T-TEP) of physics teachers shows a system that is Edited by David E. Meltzer, Monica Plisch, largely inefficient, mostly incoherent, and and Stamatis Vokos completely unprepared to deal with the current and future needs of the nation’s students. Physics departments, schools of education, university administrators, school systems, state agencies, and the federal government, along with business and foundations, all have indispensable collaborative roles to play so that every high school student has the opportunity to learn physics with a qualified teacher. ISBN 978-0-9848110-2-1 Transforming the Preparation of Physics Teachers: A Call to Action A Report by the Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics (T-TEP) Edited by David E. Meltzer, Monica Plisch, and Stamatis Vokos T-TEP is a joint effort of: American Physical Society American Association of Physics Teachers American Institute of Physics With support from: Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) December 2012 Transforming the Preparation of Physics Teachers: A Call to Action. A Report by the Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics (T-TEP) © 2012 American Physical Society. All rights reserved. Published by: American Physical Society One Physics Ellipse College Park, MD 20740-3845 U.S.A. -
Status Study of Graduate Science Education in the United States, 1960-90
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 195 401 SE 033 240 AUTHOR Yager, Robert E. TITLE Status Study of Graduate Science Education in the United States, 1960-90. Final Report. INSTITUTION Iowa Univ., Iowa City. Science Education Center. SPONS AGENCY National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. PUP EAT! 15 Sep BO CONTRACT NSF-79-SP-069B NOTE 176p. ETES PRICE MF01/PCOB Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS College Science: *Educational Trends: Graduate School Faculty: Graduate Students: *Graduate Study: Higher Education: *National Surveys: *SchoolSurveys: *Science Education ABSTRACT This study presents results from asurvey of all graduate institutions in the United States and then takesa closer look at 35 programs responsible for most of the researchand production cf doctoral graduates in science education. Identifiedare several trends, which are discussed and represented graphically,in the areas of:(1) growth of science education as a discipline: (2) change in the graduate programs within the past 20years;(3) financial support for science education: (4 commitmentto personal research productivity of graduate faculty: (5) individual characteristics of faculty members: (6) agreementas to definition for science education, a rationale or framework for thediscipline, and a theory-base fot research:(7) autonomy of science education programs at graduate institutions:(B) research interests in science education:(9) goals for the discipline: and (10) status of professional dialogue and cooperative research efforts. (Author /CS) *********************************************************************** -
University Microfilms, a XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan
RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS AND TEACHER-STUDENT ATTITUDES TOWARD PHYSICS Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Elliott, Walter Earl, 1935- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 06/10/2021 15:54:36 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/287850 72-16,154 ELLIOTT, Walter Earl, 1935- RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS AND TEACHER- STUDENT ATTITUDES TOWARD PHYSICS. The University of Arizona, Ph.D., 1972 Education, scientific University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS AND TEACHER-STUDENT ATTITUDES TOWARD PHYSICS by Walter Earl Elliott A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY EDUCATION In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 7 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my direction by Walter Earl Elliott entitled RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS AND TEACHER-STUDENT ATTITUDES TOWARD PHYSICS be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy !Z-t7- 7/ Dissertation Director Date After inspection of the final copy of the dissertation, the follovzing members of the Final Examination Committee concur in its approval and recommend its acceptance:"" /Q--/7-7/ /l- Z3- 71 This approval and acceptance is contingent on the candidate's adequate performance and defense of this dissertation at the final oral examination. -
Stephen Brush Awarded the 2009 Pais Prize
HistoryNEWSLETTER Physics A FORUM OF THE AMERICAN PHYSICALof SOCIETY • VOLUME X • NO. 6 • SPRING 2009 Stephen Brush Awarded the 2009 Pais Prize By Paul Halpern, Chair, Pais Prize Selection Committee he American Physical Soci- the History Department as well as ety and the American Insti- at the Institute for Fluid Dynamics Ttute of Physics have selected and Applied Mathematics (later the Stephen G. Brush, a physicist and Institute for Physical Science and historian of science, to receive Technology). The University’s first the 2009 Abraham Pais Prize full-time historian of science, he for the History of Physics “for became Professor in 1971 and Dis- his pioneering, in-depth studies tinguished Professor of the History in the history of nineteenth and of Science in 1995. twentieth-century physics.” In 1999 Brush was awarded Brush joins an impressive a Guggenheim Fellowship for a list of previous Pais Prize win- research project titled “A com- ners including Martin J. Klein parative study of theory evaluation (2005), John L. Heilbron (2006), in different sciences.” Using case Max Jammer (2007), and Gerald studies from astronomy, biology, Holton (2008). chemistry and physics, he exam- Born on 12 February 1935 in ined the standard assumption that Bangor, Maine, Brush received scientific theories are accepted as a a bachelor’s degree in physics result of their successful prediction from Harvard University in 1955. of new phenomena. On the contrary, A Rhodes Scholar, he pursued he found, several important theo- graduate study at Oxford Uni- 2009 Pais Prize winner Stephen Brush of the ries (such as quantum mechanics) versity, earning a doctorate in University of Maryland. -
1 the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs
The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project ROBERT H. MAYBURY Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial Interview Date: January 16, 2013 Copyri ht 2013 ADST TABL OF CONT NTS Background Born in Pennsylvania, son of a Nazarene minister Religious upbringing Raised in several ast Coast States astern Nazarene College ) NC), Quincy, ,A- Boston .niversity Dr. 0ames Houston Shrader .S Navy, 1122 Pacific Theater military actions ,arriage )1345) Birth of son Religious discussions Boston, ,A area -1378 astern Nazarene College9 Teacher of Basic Chemistry Research at Harvard ,edical School- Physical Chemistry Dr.Shrader 2nstitute of Religion in the Age of Science )2RAS) Star 2sland meeting 1orld Neighbors Polymer Chemistry research Proteomics Biochemical activity DNA/RNA .S leadership role Foreign language requirements Danworth Foundation Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago 2llinois area 1378 Research studies and publication College of 2daho, Caldwell, 2daho9 Professor of chemistry 1378-1374 Leadership problems ,odel .nited Nations program 1 Research Corporation grants Professor Harry Lewis, Reed College .niversity of Redlands, Redlands CA9 Professor of Analytical & 1374-1351 Physical Chemistry9 Research on proteins Dr. Albert Baez California 2nstitute of Technology )research) .niversity of 1ashington )Professor) Ford Foundation grant California Heart Association, Chairman, Student Research Committee Distinguished Service Award Committee on Chemical ducation, American Chemical Society Student body