Sputnik and PSSC Physics

I was visiting Lubos Motl's Reference Frame where he reminds us that the 50th Anniversary of Sputnik is coming up.

Sputnik shocked America not too differently from what 9/11 did. We were falling behind in the Space Race. Something had to be done. At once. Some physicists at MIT already had a project under way to devise a new and better way to teach physics. I was one of the first lucky students in that course. That would have been my Junior year in High School. 1960. My teacher was Roy Bush who had taught physics to Army Air Force Pilots in WW2. The school was Omaha Central High School which was located in the building that once housed the State Capitol of Nebraska. The school, which at the time I went was rated 4th in the nation, has produced two Nobel Prize winners. Alan Heegar and Lawrence Klein.

In addition actor Henry Fonda went to school there as did Chicago Bears great Gayle Sayers. We won the State Football Championship his Senior Year (my Junior). He was amazing to watch. I still remember one of his rambles up the sidelines for a touchdown. Once he was clear no one could catch him. I didn't know Gayle well but his brother Roger sat next to me in chemistry class. Saul Kripke was also a student there. He was the son of Rabbi Meyer Kripke. We passed on the street quite often. Saul used to walk with a very funny bounce. Most of us thought him quite strange. Had we only known.

Well back to PSSC Physics. John Dodge has a short history of the course. My favorite part of the course (which I took in my Jr. and Sr. years - I had my own lab and got an A+ both years) was the Bugatti running on a track in one of the films that was shown as part of the course. I suppose I ought to let Mr. Dodge get a few words in:

MIT has a few faculty members who are designated as Institute Professors. These have performed their duties extremely well, and now are being paid for doing anything educational that suits their fancy. In ’56 Institute Professor Jerrold Zacharias’ fancy was to produce and test the formation of a high school physics course that would give an accurate idea of the breadth and depth of up-to-date physics to the extent that it could be understood by competent high school students. By December ’56 he had organized a team of scientists and teachers from inside and outside of MIT, and by September ’57 this Physical Science Study Committee had completed enough work to be tested in a few high schools during the ’57–’58 school year.

In the fall of ’57, the Russians put up the first artificial satellites of the Earth, the Sputniks 1 and 2 being launched a month apart. This Soviet success dealt the U.S. a bitter blow, and the reactions were prompt. Among these was the realization that education in science and mathematics was far behind the Russians. Much money became available for the improvement of curricula, and since the PSSC was already under way, it was able to obtain large grants that enabled a vast increase in the number of pilot teachers in the program. In the school year ’58–’59, the new course was tested in 250 schools, preceded by three six-week summer institutes for training the pilot teachers.

The PSSC Physicstextbooks can still be found around. It is a very good introduction to physics.

I think I also ought to mention my Mathematics Teacher Virginia Lee Pratt, a brilliant lady who taught me calculus and solid geometry. And my English teacher Edward Clark who also coached Gayle Sayers and the Championship Football team. I'm sorry to say I got D's in English. My style was more suited to technical writing than essays, short stories, and the like. When the assignment called for 20 pages I would have a hard time grinding out 5. Even though I could express any thoughts I wanted to convey in the 5 pages. Had they only heard of blogging.

BTW both Mr Clark and Miss Pratt won John Hay Whitney scholarships for study at Yale for the purpose of instituting Advanced Placement courses in the high school.