Cliffs Nodes

Cliff Swartz is a passionate advocate for better physics teaching, based on a curriculum that is quantitative and includes experiments "with a purpose." Here, in a collection of editorials written for The Physics Teacher magazine―along with a few new ones―he cajoles, chides, preaches, and provides a good swift kick in the intellectual pants for those who are working to share physics with the next generation.Gleaned from a lifetime in the lab and in the classroom, Swartz's book is chock-full of wisdom for neophytes as well as seasoned veterans. Favorite editorials such as "Practically Perfect in Every Way" and "Justifying Atoms" provide the reader with an insider's view of the state of physics teaching over the three decades that Swartz edited The Physics Teacher. His advice and opinions―often thought-provoking or controversial―should not go unheeded.