New trends in physics teaching, v.4; The ... - unesdoc - Unesco

Methodology
Japan
There are several ways of organizing an integrated science curriculum. One is to establish a central
theme for the course, and to build it by choosing appropriate materials from each domain of
physics, chemistry, biology, and earth science. The study group decided to follow this line. The
following themes were picked out and discussed: water, woods, the ocean, rivers, soybeans,
slaked lime, motion, electricity, light, equilibrium, solar radiation, etc.
After consideration, solar radiation was chosen as the main theme of the course because of its
close relationship to ‘Science I’ and to today’s energy problems and because it includes a wide
range of topics which are treated in conventional science courses.
Construction and contents
The theme of itself could tend towards applied science, but this would not be appropriate for an
upper secondary science course. The contents chosen must be basic and important, common to
those learned in ordinary science courses, but closely related to the theme. After consideration,
it was decided to prepare the following four units: (I) the Sun, (11) solar radiation, (111) the
effects of solar radiation on the Earth, and (IV) solar radiation and human beings.
The framework of the curriculum, the sequence of teaching materials, and important laboratory
work are outlined below.
SOLAR RADIATION
(I)
The Sun
Observing the Sun: form, size, mass, sunspots.
Lab. : using a telescope, observing sunspots, change of appearance, radius of the Sun.
Composition of the Sun: surface temperature, elements.
Lab. : observing Fraunhofer dark lines.
Movement of the Sun: southing (the moment when it crosses the meridian), shadow
curve, distance between the Sun and Earth, spin and orbit of the Earth.
Lab. : drawing shadow curve, measuring southing time, etc.
(11) Solar radiation
Variety of radiation: light, ultraviolet rays, infra-red rays, properties of light (propagation,
reflection, refraction), heat.
Lab. : mirrors, lenses, measuring refractive index, specific heat.
Light as waves: diffraction, interference, dispersion, spectrum, wave length and colour,
colour of substances.
Lab.: diffraction and interference of ripples and light, prism and dispersion of light,
absorption spectrum of colouring matter.
Solar radiation and energy: wave length and distribution of energy, solar constant.
Lab. : project of estimating surface temperature of the Sun.
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