Classical Homeschooling: Backing Our Way into Physics

I want to teach my kids to be good natural scientists. Physics always seemed to be a natural science to introduce early (even toddlers negotiate their physical world), but it's easier wished than done.

I remember Richard Feynman's writing about how his father first told him about physics principles from The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, " said, 'Say Pop, I noticed something: When I pull the wagon the ball rolls to the back of the wagon, and when I'm pulling it along and I suddenly stop, the ball rolls to the front of the wagon," and I says, 'why is that?' And he said, 'That nobody knows,' he said. 'The general principle is that things that are moving try to keep on moving and things that are standing still tend to stand still unless you push on them hard.' And he says, 'This tendency is called inertia but nobody knows why it's true.'" I like that approach because it gives knowledge with an appreciation for what also is unknown. But the problem is me. I also wish I knew as much about Nature as Anna Comstock (Handbook of Nature Study, but our natural teaching moments were more likely to be planned or science-lite, relying on what knowledge I happened to have available without looking it up in a book.

Physics is a tricky subject to teach for tweens or middle school students because it doesn't have to be as complex or rigorous as high school or college prep physics, but it also deserves more than elementary school level explanations. I had started off this year with the high school Conceptual Physics book, and we even spent some time with Conceptual Physical Sciences, but although our son could read the chapters and answer the questions, it wasn't helping him look at his natural surroundings more thoughtfully or think like a scientist. And it seemed a lot like work, rather than something that was intriguing or fun.

Recently we found this delightful site that has free online Classical Physics demonstrations. It's not enough to be a stand-alone curriculum, but it terrific for bring back the fun.

Though we covered Newton's Laws of Motion, we're now revisiting what we've learned, so that understand more about the historical context that drove Newton connect ideas about the movement of the planets, with movement on earth. In order to answer his questions in a specific way, had had to develop a new branch of mathematics (calculus) to test hypotheses about what laws could predict movement.

Newton's laws would allow others to design rockets, spaceships, and rollercoasters, predict the movements of golf balls, fluids, and neutrons in a nuclear reactor. As we collect links and for study notes, we'll post them on our blog.

I'm much happier with our current track in physics because I can see our children's curiosity and excitement returning, and they're getting a better experience for what the practice of science is - observing carefully, questioning, hypothesizing, making conclusions, and then recognizing what remains unknown.

BTW, the beautiful pictures above are from that wonderful MIT physicist and teacher, Harold Edgerton, who was able to stop time and provide surprising insights into the behaviors that previously were too fast to study.

Edgerton Golf Picture
Harold Edgerton Center
Edgerton Explorit Center
High Speed Visualization Lab...Cool Pictures

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