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PART THREE History and Philosophy in

The papers in Part Three elaborate the role of history and philosophy in physics education. The history and can address two levels of problems in physics education : at the first level, there are problems of how best to promote subject matter competence, knowledge and understanding; at the second level, there are problems about the purposes, aims and goals of physics instruction. It is recognised that physics education shares all the difficulties of , and then some more. There has been a flight from physics by both students and teachers. In only a few thousand of the 24,000 or so high schools in the United States is physics taught by a physics graduate. The situation in Australia is not much better, with approximately one-tenth of graduates going into science teaching having a physics degree. These teacher­ supply problems are societal and structural, and only peripherally amenable to educational solutions. But there are important aspects of the physics crisis that are amenable to educational effort. One aspect is the unfortunate trend to reduce school physics to the 'physics of gadgets'. The physics of gadgets - sometimes called '' - is one reaction to the daunting formalism and so pervasive in curricula and texts. There are some progressive aspects to this trend. But competence in the physics of gadgets is surely not the only goal to which a physics programme can aspire. David Goodstein, in his Oersted Medal Address to the American Association of Physics Teachers, correctly said of the physics profession that 'What we have is nothing less than the wisdom of the ages. It's that vast body of knowledge, the central triumph of human intelligence, our victory over mystery and ignorance' (Goodstein 1999, p. 186). Without the history and philosophy of physics, this 'wisdom of the ages' can hardly be appreciated. Copernicus on the heliocentric solar system, Galileo on falling bodies, Newton on the unity of celestial and terrestrial physics, Volta on , Einstein on relativity, Planck on quantum effects, and so on. This history is a rich storehouse, the walking through of which should leave students with some sense of the wisdom of the ages and the personal and social requirements whereby it was acquired. Igal GaIili and Amon Hazan here present research on the effect of a history-based course in on students' views about science. Encouragingly, students doing the history-based course performed equally as well as students who studied a more standard, professional, course. Their 227 228 subject matter knowledge and comprehension was not diminished in virtue of their historical curriculum. But their comprehension of the nature of science, and its place in the big picture of human intellectual and practical endeavour, was considerably advanced compared to the professional group. Nahum Kipnis outlines one of the great and engaging controversies in the history of science, that between the two Italian professors Alessandro Volta and Luigi Galvani concerning the nature of 'animal electricity'. This late eighteenth century debate is an exemplary model of rival theory development and appraisal. Kipnis shows how its main features can be reproduced in classrooms, thus sheding on the understanding of the basic scientific concepts, and importantly on scientific methodology and the place of experimental results in the resolution of theoretical controversy. Roberto de Andrade Martins and Cibelle Celestino Silva address one of the central issues concerning the use of history in science teaching: How much can the history of science be deformed to suit pedagogical purposes? This question was raised by Martin Klein , a research turned historian in 1970 at an MIT conference sponsored by the International Commission on Physics Education. Klein's argument was basically: teachers of science select and use historical materials to further contemporary scientific or pedagogical purposes, such selection is contrary to the canons of good history, and therefore 'in trying to teach physics by means of its history, or at least with the help of its history, we run a real risk of doing an injustice to the physics or to its history ­ or to both' (Klein 1972, p. 12). Michael Matthews uses the prehistory of the metre length standard as an example of how history in the classroom can shed light on the 'big picture' of science, and enable students to appreciate some basic methodological issues in science, as well as enabling them to see how political considerations can bear upon its conduct. Olivia Levrini discusses a topic that is tailor made for historical and philosophical elaboration in the classroom, namely Einstein's Theory of . Among the issues she delineates is the long-standing debate about the reality of space. Students of relativity theory can , with benefit, relive this debate, and other basic philosophical disputes with which the subject blossoms. Fanny Seroglou and Panagiotis Koumaras provide perhaps the most comprehensive extant review of research on the theoretical, curricular and pedagogical aspects of using in physics education. Their conclusions are encouraging for those advocating such usage.

Goodstein, D.L. : 1999, 'Now Boarding: The Flight from Physics', American Journal ofPhysics 67(3), 183-186. Klein, MJ.: 1972, 'Use and Abuse of Historical Teaching in Physics'. In S.G. Brush & A.L. King (eds .), History in the Teaching of Physics, Press of New England, Hanover