What is the function of the history of physics?
The history of physics is the study of human understanding of various physical phenomena in nature. Its basic task is to describe the context of physical concepts, laws, theories and research methods, and to prompt the causes and laws of the occurrence and development of physical concepts, methods and contents. Today is a continuation of yesterday, and understanding history is to better grasp the future. Therefore, in physics teaching, the history of physics should become a valuable teaching resource. However, due to the influence of the concept of exam-oriented education and the factors of physics textbooks, it is difficult for physics teachers to convey the rich and colorful contents of physics to students, which makes students only know one thing about the origin of the basic concepts and laws of physics, and the knowledge of physics is abstruse and difficult to understand, so students feel more and more boring and difficult to learn, and their enthusiasm for learning physics is getting lower and lower. This is in contradiction with the increasingly important position of physics in the development of science and technology and society. Studying the history of physics will inject new vitality into physics teaching, and "history" really lets them explore the history of nature with human beings, and share joys and sorrows with scientists in their pursuit of science, truth, courage to practice and arduous struggle. This will give life meaning to physics knowledge and help to stimulate students' enthusiasm for learning physics and climbing scientific peaks. Let's talk about the role of physics history in physics teaching from several aspects. First of all, rich materials of physics history can be used to educate students on scientific ideals and stimulate their scientific creative spirit. The basic task of physics teaching is not only to teach students the basic knowledge and skills of physics, but also to develop their cognitive ability and cultivate their scientific ideals and innovative spirit. If the physics teacher is familiar with the history of physics, he can use vivid examples to educate and cultivate this aspect in teaching. Being familiar with the creative practice of famous scientists and understanding the historical background and breakthrough process of major scientific discoveries and inventions in history can broaden students' horizons, deepen their understanding of science, strengthen their confidence and ideals in scientific creation and promote scientific development. For example, when studying electricity, students can be introduced to the discovery process of current and electromagnetic induction, and when introducing Archimedes' principle, they can tell students the story of the crown. When learning to use electricity in daily life, we can explain to students the process of Edison's invention of electric light. Knowing the life and great contributions of scientists and getting inspiration from them can often benefit young students for life. Introducing the wisdom of outstanding scientists can make students feel the noble qualities of scientists who are brave in pursuing truth, devoting themselves to scientific undertakings, making progress despite difficulties, being frustrated, modest and rigorous, and selfless dedication. For example, Newton, the father of mechanics, never took credit. At the end of his life, he said two words to the world: "I don't know what the world thinks of me, but from my own point of view, I am like a child playing by the sea. I find a particularly smooth pebble at one moment and an unusually beautiful shell at the other." In this way, let yourself be entertained and amused; At the same time, Wang Yang Truth Sea has not been recognized and discovered before my eyes. " "If I see farther than others, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants." Faraday, known as the leader of electromagnetism, has won numerous honors in his life, but he never smiles. People asked him inexplicably, and he replied with a silly smile: "I can't say that these honors are not precious, but I never strive for them." Newton-ampere in electricity, one day, while walking on the road, he was absorbed in thinking and used the back of the carriage as a blackboard. Madame Curie, the discoverer of radium, would rather lose the chance of becoming a rich man than disclose all the secrets of her invention of radium and its manufacturing method. ..... These living examples can be signposts and action guides for young students, helping them to establish a correct world outlook, outlook on life and values. Introducing the history of physics with textbooks can also make students realize that the pursuit of truth for the benefit of mankind is an important driving force for great scientists to devote themselves to scientific undertakings and make great achievements. Scientific achievements come from scientists' diligent research and selfless dedication. Scientific work is the work of constantly prompting and discovering objective laws, and it is a complex mental work. Only hard work, perseverance and long-term struggle can have an effect. The spirit of daring to break through the traditional prejudice and boldly carry out scientific exploration is an important ideological basis for great scientists to achieve scientific achievements. To know the truth, we should not only overcome the difficulties and obstacles in scientific experiments, but also overcome the shackles of traditional concepts. Therefore, to promote scientific development, we should not only respect authority, learn and inherit the correct theoretical knowledge of predecessors with an open mind, but also get rid of superstition and stick to traditional concepts and dare to explore. Creativity belongs to people who love to get to the bottom of things and think independently. In short, in physics teaching, the introduction of physics history can help students master the law of scientific development, understand the social function of science, understand the relationship between social practice and physics development, learn physics research methods, inherit the fine tradition of scientific research, broaden their knowledge horizons, activate scientific thinking and stimulate scientific creativity. Second, understanding the history of physics development can deepen the understanding of the basic concepts, principles and laws of physics. For the basic concepts, basic principles and laws in physics, only by understanding how they came into being, formed and developed, that is, how they came from and how they evolved into what they are now, can we truly understand their essence and explain them in simple terms in teaching. A basic concept, based on what objective phenomenon, was introduced into physics for what research needs? What is its original intention? With the development of physics, what supplements and modifications have it received? ..... all this is difficult to fully understand only from ordinary textbooks. Textbooks often have only one definition, which may completely cover up their rich contents in the process of development. It is easy for students to take things out of context, understand physics concepts and laws unilaterally, obliterate students' creative thinking, and let students miss the opportunity of inquiry learning. Because the formation and development process of a basic concept and law itself is a rare good material for students to carry out inquiry learning. In teaching, if the teacher only emphasizes the conclusion, only gives the conclusion, not the process. Teaching will lack suspense, and teaching will become a process of simply repeating textbook knowledge. The classroom will lose its vitality and lack unexpected "surprises". The direct result is that students will only memorize conclusions without really understanding them, and their comprehensive thinking ability and creativity will not be fully developed. 3. Understanding the real history of physics development can break the "contingency" and "mystery" of scientific creation. One of the teaching tasks is to impart the theoretical knowledge obtained by predecessors, and the physics learning theory embodied in the current textbooks is a strict theoretical logic system formed by people after editing and sorting out many times according to the teaching needs. When giving lectures, teachers often only pay attention to the logical structure of the theory itself and are used to drawing conclusions from a few basic assumptions or laws by mathematical methods, which hides the specific development process of scientific understanding: from perceptual to rational, from phenomenon to essence, from individual to universal. In this way, students will feel unfathomable about the source of these knowledge and the formation of theoretical system, and think that all kinds of physical concepts, principles and laws can be obtained overnight, but the "inspiration" creation of some clever and superhuman scientific giants in history is a historical coincidence and accidental opportunity, which is beyond the reach of ordinary people. This understanding is very wrong. In fact, anyone who is familiar with the historical process of scientific creation knows that the acquisition of any physical knowledge is a dynamic historical process, which is obtained through many "trial and error" choices. From perceptual to rational, from low to advanced, from one-sided to comprehensive, from rough to strict, there is a process of emergence, development and evolution, which is by no means created by any genius. In teaching, some necessary historical review is helpful for students to understand the experimental basis of various theories, the objective reality on which various abstract models are based, and the evolution of assumptions, viewpoints and physical ideas, so that students can "experience" the "systematic pronunciation process" of the emergence, formation and development of basic concepts, principles and theories of physics in class. This practice itself helps to eliminate students' contingency and mystery about the source of physical knowledge. Let students realize that invention is not the privilege of some people, and success will only belong to those who dare to practice, dare to practice, and are good at doing it with 99% sweat. At the same time, let students realize that physics is a subject based on experiments. To learn physics well, we must attach importance to experiments, learn to observe and experience life. Fourthly, understanding the development and approximation of physics theory can overcome the rigid understanding and absolutist view of truth. In the development history of physics, the following theoretical changes often occur: replacing the wrong understanding with a more correct understanding, for example, replacing the hot card theory with the passive action theory of heat; Replace one-sided understanding with more comprehensive understanding, such as replacing the original particle theory and wave theory with wave-particle duality of light; Replacing superficial knowledge with deeper understanding, such as Copernicus' theory, Kepler's theory and Newton's law of gravity, is a deepening process; Replacing local approximate knowledge with more universal and accurate knowledge, such as the establishment of relativity and quantum mechanics, reveals the limitations and approximation of Newtonian mechanics, and summarizes it as a limit case in the new theory. This vividly shows that no physical theory can be regarded as the ultimate perfection, because the finiteness of its content is always opposite to the infinite richness and diversity that may be observed. The knowledge of physics acquired by people under certain conditions can only be approximate and relative truth. If physics teachers have rich knowledge of physics history, they will consciously educate students on dialectical materialism truth in teaching, so as to help students overcome their absolute and rigid understanding of physics knowledge and prevent students from mechanically applying physics laws and formulas and solving problems without restrictions or conditions.