Preface

Preface

Physical Science is a straightforward, easy-to-read, but substantial introduction to the fundamental behavior of matter and energy. It is intended to serve the needs of nonscience majors who are required to complete one or more physical science courses. It introduces basic concepts and key ideas while providing opportunities for students to learn reasoning skills and a new way of thinking about their environment. No prior work in science is assumed. The language, as well as the mathematics, is as simple as can be practical for a college-level science course.

Organization

The Physical Science sequence of chapters is flexible, and the instructor can determine topic sequence and depth of coverage as needed. The materials are also designed to support a conceptual approach, or a combined conceptual and problem-solving approach. With laboratory studies, the text contains enough material for the instructor to select a sequence for a two-semester course. It can also serve as a text in a one-semester astronomy and earth science course, or in other combinations.

Special Treatment

Physical Science is based on two fundamental assumptions arrived at as the result of years of experience and observation from teaching the course: (a) that students taking the course often have very limited background and/or aptitude in the natural sciences; and (b)that this type of student will better grasp the ideas and principles of physical science if they are discussed with minimal use of technical terminology and detail. In addition, it is critical for the student to see relevant applications of the material to everyday life. Most of these everyday-life applications, such as environmental concerns, are not isolated in an arbitrary chapter; they are discussed where they occur naturally throughout the text.

Each chapter presents historical background where appropriate, uses everyday examples in developing concepts, and follows a logical flow of presentation. The historical chronology, of special interest to the humanistically inclined nonscience major, serves to humanize the science being presented. The use of everyday examples appeals to the nonscience major, typically accustomed to reading narration, not scientific technical writing, and also tends to bring relevancy to the material being presented. The logical flow of presentation is helpful to students not accustomed to thinking about relationships between what is being read and previous knowledge learned, a useful skill in understanding the physical sciences. Worked examples help students integrate concepts and understand the use of relationships called equations. They also serve as a model for problem solving; consequently, special attention is given to complete unit work and to the clear, fully expressed use of mathematics. Where appropriate, chapters contain one or more activities that use everyday materials rather than specialized laboratory equipment. These activities are intended to bring the science concepts closer to the world of the student. The activities are supplemental and can be done as optional student activities or as demonstrations.

Pedagogical Devices

Physical Science has an effective combination of innovative learning aids. Each chapter begins with an introductory overview and a brief outline that help students to organize their thoughts for the coming chapter materials. Each chapter ends with a brief summary that organizes the main concepts presented, a summary of equations (where appropriate) written both with words and with symbols, a list of page-referenced key terms, a set of multiple-choice questions with answers provided for immediate correction or reinforcement of major understandings, a set of thought questions for discussion or essay answers, and, two sets of problem exercises with fully worked, complete solutions for one set provided in the appendix. The set with the solutions provided is intended to be a model to help students through assigned problems in the other set. In trial classroom testing, this approach proved to be a tremendous improvement over the traditional "odd problem answers." The "answer only" approach provided students little help in learning problem solving skills, unless it was how to work a problem backward.

Many chapters also have a fascinating spotlight on a biography of a well-known scientist, past or present. From these People behind the Science biographies students learn the human side of the story, that physical science is indeed relevant and real people do the research and make the discoveries.

Finally, each chapter of Physical Science includes one or more boxed Closer Look features that present topics of special human or environmental concern (the use of seat belts, acid rain, and air pollution, for example). In addition to environmental concerns, topics are presented on interesting technological applications (passive solar homes, solar cells, and catalytic converters, for example), or topics on the cutting edge of scientific research (quarks, El Niño, and deep-ocean exploration, for example). All boxed features are informative materials that are supplementary in nature.

Supplementary Materials

Physical Science is accompanied by a variety of supplementary materials, including an interactive student CD-ROM, an instructor's manual with a Test Item File containing multiple choice test items for the text, a laboratory manual, an instructor's edition of the laboratory manual, overhead transparencies, and testing software for both the Macintosh and Windows programs. A text-specific website offering unlimited resources for both the student and instructor is found at: www.mhhe.com/tillery/

The Physical Science, Fifth Edition CD-ROM has book-specific study aids organized per chapter. Each chapter includes animations modeling key concepts discussed in the book, interactive questions and problems, practice quizzes, and crossword puzzles using key terms and glossary definitions. Also included on the CD-ROM are guest essays written by professors which expose students to a different viewpoint on a topic or a new research project. For instructors, there is an image bank containing the images from the textbook. This interactive resource is packaged free with any new textbook.

The laboratory manual, written and classroom tested by the author, presents a selection of laboratory exercises specifically written for the interest and abilities of nonscience majors. There are laboratory exercises which require measurement, data analysis, and thinking in a more structured learning environment. Alternative exercises that are open-ended "Invitations to Inquiry" are provided for instructors who would like a less structured approach. When the laboratory manual is used with Physical Science, students will have an opportunity to master basic scientific principles and concepts, learn new problem solving and thinking skills, and understand the nature of scientific inquiry from the perspective of hands-on experiences.

The instructor's manual, also written by the text author, provides a chapter outline, an introduction/summary of each chapter, suggestions for discussion and demonstrations, multiple choice questions (with answers) that can be used as resources for cooperative teaching, and answers and solutions to all end-of-chapter questions and exercises not provided in the text.

The text specific website provides instructional resources for both the students and the instructor. With a home page dedicated to both students and instructors, each will be able to access their own Table of Contents page, which will provide links to many resources. Available are links to chapter resources, links to web-related resources, on-line quizzes, and links to collaborative exercises. Thought provoking questions and Invitations to Inquiry laboratory situations and PowerPoint presentations are also provided as on-line teaching tools. A link to the text's bulletin board provides a medium of exchange between instructors and students, and a link to a text information page describes all available resources. By way of this website, students and instructors will be better able to quickly incorporate the Internet into their classroom.

The author has attempted to present an interesting, helpful program that will be useful to both students and instructors. Comments and suggestions about how to do a better job of reaching this goal are welcome. Any comments about the text or other parts of the program should be addressed to:

Bill W. Tillery
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Arizona State University
PO Box 871504
Tempe, AZ 85287-1504 USA

Or, (preferred) email: tillery@asu.edu