Five Easy Lessons: Strategies for Successful Physics Teaching

by randall-d-knight

Five Easy Strategies for Successful Physics Teaching "An invaluable resource for any instructor interested in creating a physics class where students are actively engaged in learning and applying physics. The book is filled with specific suggestions on teaching individual topics in addition to an excellent summary and overview of teaching strategies based on physics education research." — Michael Read, College of the Siskiyous, CA "One of the most complete and helpful books on teaching introductory physics that I have ever come across. Not only does it provide thoughtful suggestions about how to improve your course topic by topic, it provides a marvelous primer on educational research into how students learn (or fail to learn) physics." — Dale Pleticha, Gordon College, MA "I have used the great ideas from this book over the last few years. It contains excellent summaries of research into students' learning and offers lots of helpful and specific advice on how to bring the ideas that have emerged from this research into your classroom. It is a valuable resource for improving students' learning." — Larry Lonney, Shawnee State University, Portsmouth, OH Five Easy Strategies for Successful Physics Teaching is a paperback book packed with creative tips on how instructors can enhance and improve their physics class instruction techniques. It's an invaluable companion to Randy Knight's Physics for Scientists and Engineers — or for any physics course. Randy Knight has taught introductory physics for more than 20 years at Ohio State University and California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, where he is currently Professor of Physics. Professor Knight received a bachelor's degree in physics from Washington University in St. Louis and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics before joining the faculty at Ohio State University. It was at Ohio State, under the mentorship of Professor Leonard Jossem, that he began to learn about the research in physics education that, many years later, led to this book. Professor Knight's research interests are in the field of lasers and spectroscopy. He recently led the effort to establish an environmental studies program at Cal Poly, where, in addition to teaching introductory physics, he also teaches classes on energy, oceanography, and environmental issues.

Genres: Education, Physics, Science

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 19, 2002

Reviews

[Arnoud Visser]

I like this physics guy. Not just theory, but pre-tests and post-test to measure the knowledge gained. Part I is also applicable to any other science education, although the setting is a bit American (large classes, freshman directly from highschool).

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is brilliant. Every physics teacher should read it.

[Raquel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute MUST for anyone teaching or assisting in physics. There are many great strategies and concepts to help you start teaching physics in a way that is student focused and brings everyone success. Not everything is perfect and I found several things that I don’t agree with or would do differently but this book has so many more important and useful things!

I used it as a textbook supplement in my Physics Education Research class in college and I will continue to read it when I become a full time teacher.

[Luke Vanderwerff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not read every word in this book. I read the sections on topics I was teaching at the time and they were moderately useful. I would not buy this book but it is worth it to reference if you can acquire it from the library.

[Kiehl Christie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know how to teach physics.

This book makes it a lot easier.

[Jacqueline]

Great book for understanding what physics students believe, and how they learn and think.