Conceptual physics

{{Short description|Method of teaching physics}}

Conceptual physics is an approach to teaching physics that focuses on the ideas of physics rather than the mathematics. It is believed that with a strong conceptual foundation in physics, students are better equipped to understand the equations and formulas of physics, and to make connections between the concepts of physics and their everyday life. Early versions used almost no equations or math-based problems.{{cite book |last=Hewett |first=Paul G. |title=Conceptual Physics |edition=5th |publisher=Little, Brown |year=1985 |isbn=0-316-35974-2}}

Paul G. Hewitt popularized this approach with his textbook Conceptual Physics: A New Introduction to your Environment in 1971.{{cite book|last=Hewitt|first=Paul G.|title=Conceptual Physics: A New Introduction to your Environment|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780316359641|url-access=registration|publisher=Little, Brown and Co |year=1971}} In his review at the time, Kenneth W. Ford noted the emphasis on logical reasoning and said "Hewitt's excellent book can be called physics without equations, or physics without computation, but not physics without mathematics."{{cite journal|last=Ford|first=Kenneth W.|s2cid=60300696|title=Conceptual Physics: A New Introduction to Your Environment|journal=Physics Today|date=October 1971|volume=24|issue=10|pages=54–55|doi=10.1063/1.3022390|bibcode = 1971PhT....24j..54H }} Hewitt's wasn't the first book to take this approach. Conceptual Physics: Matter in Motion by Jae R. Ballif and William E. Dibble was published in 1969.{{cite book|last1=Ballif|first1=Jae R.|author2=William E. Dibble|title=Conceptual Physics: Matter in Motion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zq7vAAAAMAAJ|year=1969|publisher=Wiley|isbn=9780471046400}} But Hewitt's book became very successful. As of 2022, it is in its 13th edition.{{cite book|last=Hewett|first=Paul G.|title=Conceptual Physics|year=2014|publisher=Pearson|isbn=978-0-321-90910-7|edition=12th}} In 1987 Hewitt wrote a version for high school students.{{cite book|last=Hewitt|first=Paul G.|title=Conceptual Physics: The High School Physics Program|year=2009|publisher=Pearson/Prentice Hall|isbn=978-0-133-64749-5|edition=3rd}}

The spread of the conceptual approach to teaching physics broadened the range of students taking physics in high school.{{cite journal|last=Hehn|first=Jack|author2=Michael Neuschatz|title=Physics For All? A Million and Counting!|journal=Physics Today|volume=59|issue=2|date=February 2006|pages=37–43|doi=10.1063/1.2186280|url=http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/reports/million.pdf|bibcode=2006PhT....59b..37H|access-date=2012-09-22|archive-date=2012-07-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715103423/http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/reports/million.pdf|url-status=dead}} Enrollment in conceptual physics courses in high school grew from 25,000 students in 1987 to over 400,000 in 2009. In 2009, 37% of students took high school physics, and 31% of them were in Physics First, conceptual physics courses, or regular physics courses using a conceptual textbook.{{cite journal |last=White |first=Susan |author2=Casey Langer Tesfaye |title=High School Physics Courses and Enrollments |journal=Focus on |date=August 2010 |url=https://www.aip.org/statistics/reports/high-school-physics-courses-enrollments |publisher=American Institute of Physics Statistical Research Center}}

This approach to teaching physics has also inspired books for science literacy courses, such as From Atoms to Galaxies: A Conceptual Physics Approach to Scientific Awareness by Sadri Hassani.{{cite book|last=Hassani|first=Sadri|title=From Atoms to Galaxies: A Conceptual Physics Approach to Scientific Awareness|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oypZ_a9pqdsC|year=2010|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-4398-0849-8}}