Dear Physics Educator:
You might be interested in teaching a university course for nonscience students that teaches a broad range of basic physics using computers and the Internet as a unifying theme. The course (which I developed and have taught since 2002 at the University of Oregon) is designed to be a single-term class (although it could cover two terms) with no prerequisites. The course may be the only college physics course many students will take. The course is often taken by students to fulfill a general science requirement. The course and book are for students who have preparation in high-school level science and math. Most of the students who take this course are arts, humanities, and professional-school majors - i.e., the same students who would otherwise take a “conceptual physics” course using texts such as:
Conceptual Physics, by Paul Hewitt
How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life, by Louis Bloomfield
Physics: Concepts and Connections, by Art Hobson
Physics for Future Presidents, by Richard Muller
It should be possible to use the text in the place of other texts such as those listed, in courses in which instructors have flexibility to choose their text.
The course is not about computers per se, but about physics. (It is also not about how computers are used in physics.) Specific knowledge about computers or computer science on the part of the instructor is not required to teach the course. The text is self-contained, explaining in simple terms all needed computer-related concepts. Any physics professor should be able to absorb the material instantly.
The purpose of the approach is to draw students into a physics course within a specific context - the fascination of how computers and the Internet work, explained from first principles. This serves two goals - it draws students into a course that will be interesting and useful to them, and it provides real working examples of the physics they are learning in a relevant, unified context. They get to see that much of what physicists know about the world goes into the physics of making of computers, lasers, wireless, etc. The devices discussed provide ample settings to explain how fundamental physics works.
The material lens itself very well to classroom lecture demonstrations and software simulations. See the Resources page for details.
The text also contains brief sections on the Social Impacts of Science and Technology. These provide springboards for discussion and further research by students, rather than being exhaustive studies of any topic. Click here for an example.
Another instructor and I have taught the course, The Physics Behind the Internet, for the past six years, with success. Typical enrollments are 50 students per term for one or two terms per year. Student responses were overwhelmingly positive. Some student responses from official course evaluations are quoted here.
While it is not feasible to cover all of the material in the text in a one-semester course, the chapters are structured to enable you as the instructor to select various paths through the material. Three main tracks can be easily identified: the first emphasizes the basis of computers; the second emphasizes the basis of communications; and the third emphasizes important concepts of modern physics--electromagnetism, quantum physics, and semiconductor physics. Following are suggested chapter selections for each track:
Track 1. The Physics Behind Computers: Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11
Track 2. The Physics Behind Communications: Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
Track 3. Modern Physics: Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13
Of course, you may also design other paths, taking advantage of optional sections, which are identified by the labels Real-World Example and In-Depth Look.
