3 ms·

I also wonder why I didn't start to learn physics until 12th grade (this was back in 1995). I hate to post an xkcd but I think this is appropriate: http://xkcd

I also wonder why I didn't start to learn physics until 12th grade (this was back in 1995). I hate to post an xkcd but I think this is appropriate: http://xkcd.com/435/ http://xkcd.com/435/ Starting them all at once is a great way to go about it too. But I wonder if 13 is too late? Why not start at 8 or 9, or even earlier? Do they still think that young children wont get it? Education is a success when students are engaged and want to learn. Let them see how amazing this stuff is as early as possible and they will get hooked! --EDIT-- I came back to add that teaching mathematics in the context of science as early as possible should help a great deal. Mathematics as an isolated subject can be foreign to students. In the context of early science it has applications. Want to apply Ohms law? Get moles in a solution? Understand cellular division rates? etc.

archon 14y ago
> I came back to add that teaching mathematics in the context of science as early as possible should help a great deal I think this hits the nail on the head. The first time I realized that science == math, I was in late high school. I wonder how my absorption of the material would have changed had I made that connection earlier. I know that being able to apply math to chemistry and physics made it much easier for me to learn algebra and calculus, if only because it now had an applicable purpose beyond being its own abstract set of concepts.
- wiredfool 14y ago
  Yeah, for me that was physics. 11th grade. In my highschool, (to graduate) everyone had to take calculus, normally in 12th grade. Unfortunately, physics (required in 11th grade) makes a hell of a lot more sense if you have some basic calculus first. All the kinematic equations are just random terms until you see that they're all derivatives/integrals of each other. On the other hand, My wife went through the british school system, and didn't have any math or science after age 13. It was all languages and such. The american system delays specialization for a long time, generally till the second half of college. (or even into grad school). The UK specializes way earlier, and you can get away with a small handful of related subjects after A levels.
peteretep 14y ago
> Why not start at 8 or 9, or even earlier? Do they still think that young children wont get it? My wife teaches kids around that age in a UK state school, and they teach some kind of combined science in the curriculum - there was a whole sequence on 'forces', which to me sounds like physics... I was at a private primary school, and did a qualification at 13 called Common Entrance, which we prepared for from 9, which examined chemistry, biology, and physics separately (although we were taught chemistry and physics in the same classes). So in answer to your question: I think (in the UK at least), they start combined sciences early
- corin_ 14y ago
  Private schools in the UK get a fair bit of flexibility in what they do, some (I believe) will even start doing separate physics/chemistry/biology before CE. But state schools... well I've honestly no idea, the last time I was attending one was when I was 7. But I would never presume to guess what they do based on my experience of what private schools do - they're far too different.
superuser2 14y ago
My school system spends the first 7 years teaching that "math" is arithmetic with some vague hinting at algebra, and the next 3 teaching that "math" is matching the problem to one of maybe 30 types, remembering the "correct" algorithm, and executing it on paper. It's not until Physics and AP Chemistry (first accessible junior year) that anyone tells you what calculus is, much less lets you glimpse the incredible beauty of what it can reveal about nature. When Precalculus started to introduce derivatives, I had the same thought as binarymax: you could have told me that years ago. When we first started working with slop and x^2 in 6th grade, it occurred to me that a curve's slope must be an equation instead of a nmuber, but the school system wasn't going to develop that thought for 6 years. I definitely agree with teaching math inside science. That's where a lot of it was invented, anyway, and it's a lot easier to stay motivated when you can what the skills you're working towards will let you accomplish.
jdietrich 14y ago
Science is on the British school curriculum from age 5. 5-7 year olds will be taught four broad scientific topics - "Scientific enquiry", "Life processes and living things", "Materials and their properties" and "Physical processes". We start teaching the scientific method as soon as a child can take a measurement and record it.

archon 14y ago

> I came back to add that teaching mathematics in the context of science as early as possible should help a great deal I think this hits the nail on the head. The first time I realized that science == math, I was in late high school. I wonder how my absorption of the material would have changed had I made that connection earlier. I know that being able to apply math to chemistry and physics made it much easier for me to learn algebra and calculus, if only because it now had an applicable purpose beyond being its own abstract set of concepts.

wiredfool 14y ago
Yeah, for me that was physics. 11th grade. In my highschool, (to graduate) everyone had to take calculus, normally in 12th grade. Unfortunately, physics (required in 11th grade) makes a hell of a lot more sense if you have some basic calculus first. All the kinematic equations are just random terms until you see that they're all derivatives/integrals of each other. On the other hand, My wife went through the british school system, and didn't have any math or science after age 13. It was all languages and such. The american system delays specialization for a long time, generally till the second half of college. (or even into grad school). The UK specializes way earlier, and you can get away with a small handful of related subjects after A levels.

peteretep 14y ago

> Why not start at 8 or 9, or even earlier? Do they still think that young children wont get it? My wife teaches kids around that age in a UK state school, and they teach some kind of combined science in the curriculum - there was a whole sequence on 'forces', which to me sounds like physics... I was at a private primary school, and did a qualification at 13 called Common Entrance, which we prepared for from 9, which examined chemistry, biology, and physics separately (although we were taught chemistry and physics in the same classes). So in answer to your question: I think (in the UK at least), they start combined sciences early

corin_ 14y ago
Private schools in the UK get a fair bit of flexibility in what they do, some (I believe) will even start doing separate physics/chemistry/biology before CE. But state schools... well I've honestly no idea, the last time I was attending one was when I was 7. But I would never presume to guess what they do based on my experience of what private schools do - they're far too different.

superuser2 14y ago

My school system spends the first 7 years teaching that "math" is arithmetic with some vague hinting at algebra, and the next 3 teaching that "math" is matching the problem to one of maybe 30 types, remembering the "correct" algorithm, and executing it on paper. It's not until Physics and AP Chemistry (first accessible junior year) that anyone tells you what calculus is, much less lets you glimpse the incredible beauty of what it can reveal about nature. When Precalculus started to introduce derivatives, I had the same thought as binarymax: you could have told me that years ago. When we first started working with slop and x^2 in 6th grade, it occurred to me that a curve's slope must be an equation instead of a nmuber, but the school system wasn't going to develop that thought for 6 years. I definitely agree with teaching math inside science. That's where a lot of it was invented, anyway, and it's a lot easier to stay motivated when you can what the skills you're working towards will let you accomplish.

jdietrich 14y ago

Science is on the British school curriculum from age 5. 5-7 year olds will be taught four broad scientific topics - "Scientific enquiry", "Life processes and living things", "Materials and their properties" and "Physical processes". We start teaching the scientific method as soon as a child can take a measurement and record it.