How Should We Teach Physics Today?

Abstract

This question is being asked by physicists around the world in the face of the global societal changes that have taken place over the last 50 years. Those same five decades have seen the publication of the original version of the current best-selling book in the world for teaching physics at the university level, as well as many updated editions. First released in 1960, Halliday and Resnick’s Physics for Students of Science and Engineering—now in its 10th edition and known as Fundamentals of Physics—has shaped the teaching of basic physics at the university level and strongly influenced physics in secondary education. The authors’ initial intentions clearly involved creating a community of science and engineering researchers capable of developing and incorporating basic and technological knowledge for the benefit of postwar industrial society.