The heroic age,the creation of quantum mechanics, 1925–1940

A number of important physics curriculum projects have produced course materials, or are in the process of doing so, for different levels of science education in the United States of America. This article surveys the scene under such headings as the Origins, the Aims, the Patterns of Construction, the Teaching Methods, the Teacher Training and the Evaluation Techniques pertaining to each of ten selected projects. An attempt is then made to draw inferences, from the American work, that are relevant to the present and future position of physics education in Britain. It is observed that action on many of these inferences would be consistent with the recommendations of the ‘Deinton Report’.

No attempt is made to give detailed surveys, or criticism, of the American projects since much of the work is only at trial stage.