Physicallity

There is very little about physics that I could tell you that is not already pretty commonly known, but during the past year I have been creative for AAPT (American Association for Physics Teachers) and have acquired a new lease on life regarding the physical world.


The result of my exposure to popular news items, or academic topicalities and even a few major player physicists, is an invigorated curiosity. It is, however a curiosity that I do not share with enough of the general population. Physics is the science of everything and it is mostly feared as a science of the weird, nerdy, AP student "genius", that is unattainable to the masses. High school students very often are required to take biology and/or chemistry to complete their studies and physics remains an AP second thought at best with elitist pompousness written all over it. Physics First is a curriculum that has students learn physics before chemistry and biology. Students learn about the scientific process and explore real-world phenomena such as photosynthesis and gravity before going on to the often physics dependent chemistry and earth sciences. This reform of the existing science curriculum could help to shed the stigma of the physics student and cause physics to be less intimidating.


As I have found, physics can often be a complex science filled with things from the macro to the micro scale, comparisons of space and time, quantum mechanics, nanotechnologies and with subjects continuing quite literally to infinity. But, basic physics fundamentals are typically easy to teach and learn and prove to be beneficial to the learning of the other sciences.


I wish I had been exposed to physics first in high school. I feigned an enjoyment of earth science and biology and then barely made it through chemistry preparing me for a science free college experience. I settled on art and even though it has been a somewhat rewarding career, I now regret my lack of science education. As I proceed to educate myself with Stephen Hawking, Einstein made simple books and wikipedia posts I still remain intimidated by the ever present equations and computations that accompany any and all significant physics literature. I guess that calculus class proved to be for naught. Just another obstacle on the way to achieving greater knowledge, a goal I wish the rest of us could grab a hold of. Maybe our desire for spirtuality, fame, fortune or NASCAR bellies is too difficult an obstacle for us to tackle in a lifetime.


So, "physics first" before it simply remains physics last.