David Goodstein

“Internet Archive: WayBack Machine”

“Internet Archive”

“There are 25,000 high schools in the United States... and the number of qualified high school physics teachers... in the range of 2,000 to 4,000. So most high schools do not have anybody qualified... and physics is taught in most high schools. ...Many of the so-called crossover teachers, who were teaching physics but weren’t trained ...were {{w|home economics}} teachers. Home economics had fallen out of favor.”

“[N]obody ever made a million dollars on {{w|educational television}}.Five years after the series went public, we got a letter ...saying, "You’ve crossed the threshold. You now share in the revenues." ...But by then, there were no more revenues. ...I didn’t care ...That wasn’t the purpose ...Later on, we applied to the {{w|National Science Foundation}} for an additional $3 million to turn out a high school version ...without calculus.”

“[I]t was no longer a television camera at the back of the room. It was now a production, with programs, and all the production values... [I]t... evolved into something far beyond anything I had imagined.”

“So I went to Murph... and he said, "I’ll give you a little money to look into it." ...I think $50,000—and I hired... Don Delson... head of AV... to be my assistant... We learned all kinds of things...”

“Robbie... asked me to create the new physics course—at least the first year of the new physics course. And I said, “Robbie, when you were chair of the faculty, you asked for complete teaching relief. Now I’m going to be chair... and you’re giving me the hardest teaching job in the whole institution. Don’t you think that’s a little unfair?" We... cut a deal... full financial support for a postdoc so I could hire somebody to help me on my research group while I was doing all this.”

“The high-school editions... video modules, averaging 15 minutes... are accompanied by extensive written materials for the teacher, including suggestions, background material, demonstrations, and sample questions... [T]eachers are willing to work very hard to improve their skills... given reasonable support, and... even teachers who are well qualified... find new inspiration in... TMU.”

“The lack of qualified high-school physics teachers in the United States is a notorious (and self-perpetuating) problem. ...[C]ombating that problem was... one of the central goals of the TMU project. ...The idea was to induce teachers to study the college-level version so ...they could use the high-school materials ...with poise and confidence.”

“The problem of how to present detailed mathematical derivations is confronted... in the animated scenes. ...The comprimise solution... invented while designing the pilot program, is called the "algebraic ballet." ...done in detail, but rapidly and entertainingly. The viewer was not expected to absorb every detail... [b]ut every step was displayed... [A]ttention is never lost during these [rapid] mathematical passages.”

“[A] program is devoted to Millikan's oil-drop experiment, partly as an application of Newton's second law, and... to induce... philosophical ideas about how science is... done. ...The solution ...create a ..."Millikan Museum" ...in the Norman Bridge Laboratory where he had worked. The set involved thousands of artifacts, many ...Millikan's own ...After ...shooting ...the museum was disassembled, to live on only on videotape.”

“[T]he earlier Feynman course had sought to makes physics exciting by relating... to contemporary... problems. The new course took the opposite tack... to recreate the historical excitement of the original discovery. ...[[Classical mechanics|[C]lassical mechanics]] ...is treated as the discovery of "our place in the universe." ...[I]ts climax is Newton's solution of the {{w|Kepler problem}}. ...[[w:Living history|[H]istorical recreations]] ...became a staple of the project.”

“[T]he primary audience was to be the "nontraditional student," especially "distance learners,"... [I]t was hoped that with a resourceful, dedicated local teacher... the teaching of introductory physics at any level could be enriched... [A]lso... that a large, casual, nonstudent audience would watch... for pleasure and instruction. ...[T]hat ideal target audience was the high-school physics teacher.”

“[T]he full series of 52 programs was first broadcast during the academic year 1986-1987...”

“The Mechanical Universe project had its roots in a routine revision of Caltech's introductory physics courses... assigned to Goldstein and begun in 1979... the first major changes... since... taught by Richard Feynman in the early 1960s.”

“Intellectually, technically and philosophically, physics and television are two separate cultures with almost no bridges between... [I]t is... time consuming and arduous... to span the gap... [T]here is no one... [at] Caltech... capable of reading, much less writing, a television script competently. ...[T]here is no one on the production side who knows enough... physics... to plan an important sequence, much less write a script or produce a program. This situation is a symptom of the malady of science illiteracy that {{w|The Mechanical Universe}} is intended to help cure..."”

“Physics is not a newcomer to televised education. The first televised physics lecture dates... to the 1930s. A remarkable number of today's American research physicists—particularly... from rural and poorer sections of the country—trace their interest... to the... {{w|Continental Classroom}} in the 1960s. The Mechanical Universe follows in that tradition...”

“The showing was succesful. ...[T]he project went on to produce ...52 television programs and 3 volumes of textbooks, plus teacher's manuals, study guides... [etc.]... designed for... college level courses... [plus] complete... videos and print materials for... high schools. The program... cost nearly $10 million.”

“Ludwig Boltzmann, who spent much of his life studying statistical mechanics, died in 1906, by his own hand. Paul Ehrenfest, carrying on the work, died similarly in 1933. Now it is our turn to study statistical mechanics. Perhaps it will be wise to approach the subject cautiously.”

“Human civilization as we know it will end, sometime in the 21st century.”