Liberation of Physics Education: Philosophical Impact of Physics Curriculum on Our Views of Reality

• In Event: Curriculum and the Classroom: Using Theory to Conceptualize Everyday Practice

Abstract

Physics education should not only provide the study of the world around us, but also a better understanding of nature and universe with a philosophical aspect. As a world-view, the philosophy of classical physics is indirectly conveyed to students, which is materialism. “Grand Unified Theory” will be a scientific implementation of Plato’s idealistic philosophy where everything in the universe is a “unity,” either a form or a mind. Quantum physics also provides an idealistic philosophy in the framework of the “entanglement” notion.

However, the weight of quantum physics in the secondary school physics curriculum is considerably minor. The predominance of classical physics in imposes the materialistic philosophy within physics education and this imposition of mono-reality skews the objectivity of science.

Author

• Goksenin Sen, University of Victoria