8 - Harmonies in Nature: A Dialogue Between Mathematics and Physics

Summary

Why is an Enrichment Course on Mathematics-Physics Designed?

In school it is a customary practice to teach mathematics and physics as two separate subjects. In fact, mathematics is taught throughout the school years from primary school to secondary school, while physics, as a full subject on its own, usually starts in senior secondary school. This usual practice of teaching mathematics and physics as two separate subjects has its grounds. To go deep into either subject one needs to spend at least a certain amount of class hours, and to really understand physics one needs to have a sufficiently prepared background in mathematics. However, such a practice deprives students of the opportunity to see how the two subjects are intimately interwoven. Indeed, in past history there was no clear-cut distinction between a scientist, not to mention so specific as a physicist, and a mathematician.

Guided by this thought we try to design an enrichment course for school pupils in senior secondary school, who are about to embark on their undergraduate study in two to three years' time, that tries to integrate the two subjects with a historical perspective. Conducting it as an enrichment course, we are free from an examination-oriented teaching-learning environment and have much more flexibility with the content. Admittedly, this is not exactly the same as the normal classroom situation with the constraint imposed by an official syllabus and the pressure exerted by a public examination.