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Teaching "Symmetry" in the Introductory Physics Curriculum

Physics Education 2009-11-06 v2 Popular Physics Physics and Society

Abstract

Modern physics is largely defined by fundamental symmetry principles and Noether's Theorem. Yet these are not taught, or rarely mentioned, to beginning students, thus missing an opportunity to reveal that the subject of physics is as lively and contemporary as molecular biology, and as beautiful as the arts. We prescribe a symmetry module to insert into the curriculum, of a week's length.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.physics/0001061,
  title  = {Teaching "Symmetry" in the Introductory Physics Curriculum},
  author = {Christopher T. Hill and Leon M. Lederman},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0001061},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

15 pages, 4 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-22T18:48:12.084Z