Physics for first-graders?

✍ Scribed by David Hammer

• Book ID: 101271039
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 25 KB
• Volume: 83
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0097-0352
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-237x(199911)83:6<797::aid-sce9>3.0.co;2-y

✦ Synopsis

Last year, browsing current journals, I came across an article in Kappan titled "Physics for First-Graders" (Hagerott, 1997). I am a big fan of the idea that young children can, do, and should learn physics, even children as young as the first grade. But this article was misguided, and it troubled me that Kappan, which bills itself as "the professional journal for education," would publish it. I held off writing a response -I had plenty to do, and I assumed there would be a barrage of criticism. Still, I watched Kappan, and when several months went by without any sign of that criticism, I phoned the editors to learn that none had been submitted.

Was everyone expecting someone else to write? More worrisome was the possibility that the piece fit with Kappan readers' expectations of science education. I drafted a somewhat longer essay than I had originally considered, backing