By relying so heavily on long example problems and algebraic formulas as is
done in the traditional approach to teaching physics,
I was making physics inaccessible to too many of my students who came to me
grade levels behind in math and reading. Worst of all, even those students
who scored well on the exam, had not understood the larger picture—namely,
how the process of solving the problem was a demonstration of a conceptual
principle of physics, and they had not experienced any of the wonder and
joy of learning physics.
So I started over, because I was determined that any student who sat in my
physics class could learn and love physics. Over the last decade,
through many trials and with the help and patience of my amazing students
and co-workers, I developed a curriculum, I call Positive Physics.
After seeing how successful my students were, I decided that this needed to
become a website, so students could interact with the curriculum and
I could share it with others. At first, everyone I spoke to said that
I could not make this happen without a large team and immense financial
resources. However, after a pick-up basketball game, I happened to
share my story with my friend and incredibly talented developer,
Anthony Fizer, and he said he believed we could make this happen ourselves.
Less than three months later, my students were testing the first
version of positivephysics.org.
The website that you are using has been revised and edited countless
times based on feedback from my students and the amazing teachers
who have tested the site. We hope that it helps you have a positive
experience learning and teaching physics.
- Jack