Dianne's Web

Last week I was part way through reading the sample chapter from our high school physics textbook, Physics That Works, which is available for download from our website here. So, I’m reporting back now that I’ve read the chapter from start to finish, all 23 pages of it. I really enjoyed it, and I learned a bunch of new things, including the difference between average speed and average velocity. I love all the callouts, Did You Know blurbs, the Focus Questions, and the integrated activities which seem like such a natural progression. It’s really quite engaging, for a high school science textbook (!) and I can see how the inquiry based science concepts are built right in and carry throughout the unit.

Now, I realize no one asked for a review (let alone and uneducated review) of PTW, but it’s pretty interesting to look at these books as an adult and see how the inquiry based science structure can make a difference in the way students learn.