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Education Letter to the Editor

Teacher Shortage No Reason To Omit Physics Classes

September 20, 2016 1 min read
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To the Editor:

Physics isn’t offered at two out of five high schools? (“Physics Not Offered at 2 in 5 High Schools, Analysis Finds,” Aug. 24, 2016) There is no reason for that. Physics can be taught through experimentation, but it can also be taught by focusing on the ideas behind the science.

Any competent teacher can handle teaching physics if he or she does so using stories in which the necessary ideas are embedded. Teaching ideas is often more effective than most quickly forgotten hands-on experiments.

Joy Hakim

Denver, Colo.

A version of this article appeared in the September 21, 2016 edition of Education Week as Teacher Shortage No Reason To Omit Physics Classes

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