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Harvard Project Physics, also called Project Physics, was a national
curriculum development Curriculum development is a planned, progressive, purposeful and systematic process in order to make positive improvements in the curriculum and education system. Various approaches have been used in developing curricula. Commonly used approaches c ...
project to create a
secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
physics education Physics education or physics teaching refers to the education methods currently used to teach physics. The occupation is called physics educator or physics teacher. Physics education research refers to an area of pedagogical research that seek ...
program in the United States during the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
era.


History

The project was active from 1962 to 1972, and produced the ''Project Physics'' series of texts, which were used in physics classrooms in the 1970s and 1980s. The project was centered at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
, but drew from schools and educators from across the country. The directors of this project were: F. James Rutherford, project coordinator (and after completion of the project, professor of
science education Science education is the teaching and learning of science to school children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education includes work in science content, science process (the scientific method), some ...
at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
);
Gerald Holton Gerald James Holton (born May 23, 1922) is a German-born 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 Mallinck ...
, professor of physics and of the
history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Pr ...
at Harvard University; and Fletcher G. Watson, professor of science education at the
Harvard Graduate School of Education The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is the education school of Harvard University, a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, it was the first school to grant the EdD degree and the first ...
.


Course materials

Project Physics course work was broken into six main subject areas, organized into separate books each called a "Project Physics Text and Handbook" or "Student Guide":Project Physics Collection at Archive.org
/ref> #Concepts of Motion #Motion in the Heavens #The Triumph of Mechanics #Light and Electromagnetism #Models of the Atom #The Nucleus The books presented the material from a historical perspective, with aspects of human interest wrapped into the text. The intent was to build a sophisticated conceptual understanding of physics, while not oversimplifying the curriculum. Frequent references to historical works where concepts were first discovered and debated highlighted the drive to make physics a fundamental search for understanding of the universe. The course materials also included readers, tests, and other teaching aids. The course readers allowed students to further explore a topic, and lab exercises enabled students to verify that their understanding was confirmed by experimental outcomes. Special lab equipment, brief film loops, films, and a teacher's guide were also developed. The texts and all other aids are now available for free on the Project Physics Collection web site.


See also

*
Physical Science Study Committee The Physical Science Study Committee (PSSC) was inaugurated at a 1956 conference at MIT to review introductory physics education and to design, implement, and monitor improvements. It produced major new physics textbooks, instructional movies, and ...
– a preceding alternative approach to teaching physics at the high school level


References

{{reflist
The Project Physics Course, Then and Now
by Gerald Holton, from the journal ''Science & Education'' (2003)
Harvard Project Physics: a report on its aims and current status
by Gerald Holton, from the journal ''Physics Education'', Volume 4, Issue 1, pp. 19–25 (1969)
Harvard project physics - A cogent approach
by Arnold J. Moore, from ''Science Education'' (1968)
A small pocket slide rule developed for the project


External links


Project Physics texts at the Internet Archive


Archival collections


Harvard Project Physics publications and reports, 1962-1982, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
Curricula History of education in the United States Education reform in the United States Educational projects Physics textbooks Harvard University Science education in the United States