dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaPhysics in Films: A New Approach to Teaching Science
| Authors | Costas J. Efthimiou, Ralph Llewellyn |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0404064 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0404064 |
Abstract
Over the past year and a half we have developed an innovative approach to the teaching of `Physical Science', a general education course typically found in the curricula of nearly every college and university. The new approach uses popular movies to illustrate the principles of physical science, analyzing individual scenes against the background of the fundamental physical laws. The impact of being able to understand why, in reality, the scene could or could not have occurred as depicted in the film, what the director got right and what he got wrong, has excited student interest enormously in a course that, when taught in the traditional mode, is usually considered to be `too hard and boring'. The performance of students on exams reflected the increased attention to and retention of basic physical concepts, a result that was a primary goal of the `Physics in Films' approach. Following the first offering of the revitalization of the Physical Science course, in which action and sci-fi films were the primary source of the scene clips used in class, the instructors have demonstrated the versatility of the approach by building variations of the course around other genres, as well --`Physics in Films: Superheroes' and `Physics in Films: Pseudoscience'. A parallel approach to the general education course in astronomy is currently being discussed; many others are in our thoughts.
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"abstract": "Over the past year and a half we have developed an innovative approach to the\nteaching of `Physical Science\u0027, a general education course typically found in\nthe curricula of nearly every college and university. The new approach uses\npopular movies to illustrate the principles of physical science, analyzing\nindividual scenes against the background of the fundamental physical laws. The\nimpact of being able to understand why, in reality, the scene could or could\nnot have occurred as depicted in the film, what the director got right and what\nhe got wrong, has excited student interest enormously in a course that, when\ntaught in the traditional mode, is usually considered to be `too hard and\nboring\u0027. The performance of students on exams reflected the increased attention\nto and retention of basic physical concepts, a result that was a primary goal\nof the `Physics in Films\u0027 approach. Following the first offering of the\nrevitalization of the Physical Science course, in which action and sci-fi films\nwere the primary source of the scene clips used in class, the instructors have\ndemonstrated the versatility of the approach by building variations of the\ncourse around other genres, as well --`Physics in Films: Superheroes\u0027 and\n`Physics in Films: Pseudoscience\u0027. A parallel approach to the general education\ncourse in astronomy is currently being discussed; many others are in our\nthoughts.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0404064",
"authors": [
"Costas J. Efthimiou",
"Ralph Llewellyn"
],
"categories": [
"physics.ed-ph",
"physics.pop-ph"
],
"title": "Physics in Films: A New Approach to Teaching Science",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0404064"
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