Physics

Physics

Newton won a stunning victory for the intellect and the democratization of science, because it became possible for students to have as much authority as teachers. By knowing proper methods, a youth could conduct an experiment whose results might confound his elders.”1 Newton’s program of “experimental philosophy” firmly and successfully established the central methods of physics, whereby inference from experience guides formulation of hypotheses, whose predictions are validated by experiment. Laboratory activities in high school physics provide experience with phenomena, a starting place for the systematic development of students’ ideas, and a testing ground for the predictive power of their reasoning.