Six Ideas Home Page

Six Ideas That Shaped Physics represents a fundamentally new approach to teaching the college-level introductory calculus-based physics course supported by a six-volume textbook and instructor's manual written by Thomas A. Moore and published by McGraw-Hill. Six Ideas That Shaped Physics was developed at Pomona College over a period of more than eight years with the support and assistance of the Introductory University Physics Project (IUPP). The result is course that helps students

1. gain a genuinely 21st-century perspective on physics,
2. better understand the heirarchical organization of physics concepts,
3. avoid well-known conceptual errors, and
4. learn physics more effectively by providing support for active learning both inside and outside the classroom.

The links at the upper right of this page (and every page on this site) will help you find the information you need about the Six Ideas text and course. I strongly recommend that students and especially instructors read the Online Preface before starting the course.

Click here to see solid photographic evidence that even beginners found it easy to grip the first edition of Six Ideas.

Click here to see a PDF of the invited talk "Serving Dessert First: an inverted introductory physics course for potential majors" that I gave on January 6, 2015 at the 2015 winter meeting of the AAPT.

Click here to see a PDF of the submitted talk "Climate Change in the Introductory Course" that I gave on January 11, 2016 at the 2016 winter meeting of the AAPT.

Click here to see a list of contents of the 3rd edition, due out (in volumes) at various times in late January and early February.