Physics First....

[rissiethebug]

This is an old essay of mine (unfortunately it's the uncited early rough draft version) that describes why Physics should be taught in high school before Chemistry or Biology. I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the subject...

When I graduated high school, I was convinced gravity was caused by the rotation of the

Comments

[rissiethebug]

I've definitely had to think about this a little bit. Because you're right, the subjects are completely interconnected, but the problem is that physics is mostly connected to biology through chemistry and that the level in which physics and chemistry (besides maybe one or two small subjects) become understandably connected is at a very high, very mathematically difficult stage in physics (took me four quarters of calculus based physics to get there). I think this is why the subjects are initially taught separate because to see the connections takes several college quarters of prior knowledge in both subjects. Where connections can be easily made between subjects (like positive and negative charges which can be explained both in basic physics and chemistry) should be made so that knowledge can be gained via comparison. Having a completely meshed science year is very difficult for me to imagine, as the material between the three that overlap (in a low level course that is) is very difficult to find. Again, physics leads into the understanding of chemistry and biology, but the actual material covered is quite different. If such a "meshed" class were to exist I think it would have to be taken senior year instead of a second course in physics.