Nuffield Co-ordinated Sciences: Physics

The content of the Nuffield Co-ordinated Sciences Physics course was divided up into five topics:
P1 Matter
P2 Force and motion
P3 Energy
P4 Waves
P5 Electricity

The authors explained that physics cannot be presented as a ‘linear’ subject in which one topic leads inexorably to the next. A better representation of the subject is as a web of interconnecting ideas. The ideas in one topic are developed around a common theme, but they are related to ideas developed in the other topics as well. Every point in this web of interconnected ideas is supported by strands which may come from many directions.

One of the ideas underlying the Physics component of Nuffield Co-ordinated Sciences was that this sense of a self-supporting web of ideas is best appreciated by seeing that they connect together in many different ways.

The introduction to the students’ book, makes clear that the one route through the book's content that could not be followed first time through was that of the order of the chapters themselves. This was the deliberate policy of the authors. The aim was to encourage students to learn to read selectively, looking in the book for what they needed, rather than reading it from beginning to end.