Nuffield Physics: Teachers’ Guide III

Some students were expected to start the Nuffield Physics course in the third year and so Teachers’ Guide III starts with the same General Introductions that was included in Teachers’ Guide I. This was followed by general and specific guidance about the third year of the course. The course for this year was concerned with waves and optics; preparatory studies of forces, mass and motion; continuation of electrical experiments with electric and magnetic fields, forces on currents, motor, simple electromagnetic induction, and dynamo; and some simple kinetic theory. Nuffield Physics also published a small booklet called ‘Optical Instruments and Ray Diagrams’ to illustrate the recommended approach to teaching about lenses and drawing ray diagrams for a range of optical instruments.

Contents 

• GENERAL GUIDANCE
• General Introduction
• Background Information
• General teaching notes
• Preparation of experiments by teachers
• Nuffield Chemistry and Nuffield Physics Programmes
• The role of the word constant in science
• 'Work': Years I, II, IV
• Conservation of energy: Years I, II, III, IV
• 'Perpetual motion': Years I, II, IV
• Getting tired when holding a load at rest
• Units
• Interaction
• Vectors
• Teaching electrostatics with electrons
• Logic and voltmeters
• Proportionality
• Condensing the guide to a syllabus?
• Outline Years I, II, III, IV, V
• Appendix I: The aims of science teaching - teaching Science for Understanding
• Appendix II: Examinations
• GUIDE TO YEAR III
• Preface to Year III
• 1. Waves
• 2. Optics
• 3. Motion and force
• 4. Molecules in motion
• 5. Electromagnetism
• 6. Cells and voltage
• 7. Electrostatics
• 8. A fruitful theory