Are you the type of person who wants to be able to understand everything around you? Do you wonder what things are and how they affect and are affected by other things around them? Do you find yourself wanting or needing to be able to describe and explain how and why something did or did not happen? Small children are always asking "simple" questions for which the answers are not so simple. They will continue to ask such fundamental questions as who, what, where, when, how, how much, and WHY over and over again until they are satisfied that they understand the answers they receive. Because small children do this, they learn very quickly and we are amazed that they seem to take great delight in both what they are learning and the questioning process they are using. Would you like to enhance or recapture your own ability to once again learn by asking "millions and millions" of questions of anyone and everyone willing to listen. If you answered yes to most of these questions you should be studying Physics because Physics is the science with the specific purpose of asking and answering all the questions necessary to qualitatively and quantitatively describe and explain everything that is and everything that happens in the observable universe. All other sciences are branches of Physics that concentrate on specific areas within this knowledge.
In many countries around the world Physics is required starting in the elementary schools and continued throughout the educational program. Unfortunately, many in the United States have lost the wonder of wanting to learn about everything about them. Instead they have decided that others around them might embarrass them or make them feel inferior by making jokes about their questions or continuous questioning. This fear of not understanding things which we have not yet learned only harms us and causes us to believe that we can not do something that we in fact are completely capable of doing if we will just ask for help.
Roane State provides introductory college Physics courses which cover the fundamental definitions and relationships among matter, space, time and energy and uses them to describe and explain such naturally important things as the motion of matter and energy, force and torque, electricity and magnetism, sound, light, temperature and heat, and the relationship of space and time and of matter and energy. The first year Physics courses cover the concepts of Physics qualitatively using words and pictures. Some elementary algebra is taught and used to quantitatively illustrate special cases and help you to understand the concepts. The General Physics courses cover the concepts of Physics both qualitatively and quantitatively by using words, pictures, and higher levels of algebra, geometry and trigonometry for better quantitative descriptions and explanations of the concepts. The Physics for scientists and engineers course covers the concepts of Physics using words, pictures, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus to make possible complete qualitative and quantitative descriptions and explanations of the concepts.
The Physics courses at Roane State have been taught since Roane State was created in 1971. Hundreds of former Roane State students now work as Doctors, Pharmacists, Technicians, Engineers, etcetera helping to meet society's needs using the knowledge and skills they first learned in Physics. They tell us that they were very well prepared to go to work or transfer to other Colleges and Universities where they added the specialty courses of their own personal areas of interest and received Bachelors Degrees in their chosen area. Many have also gone to graduate schools and completed Masters and Doctorates.
The college preparatory courses in high school are considered to be the best preparation for going to college because they allow the student who takes them to choose any area of college study without having to spend extra time learning the basic communication, mathematics, and science needed before doing the college level work in the area they choose. College level courses in Physics prepare people for many more possible opportunities for employment which they would not be qualified for without having learned Physics. Business, industry, and government organizations recruit people that have completed college Physics courses to work as technical managers, training planners and coordinators, researchers, product developers and designers, engineering aides and technicians, etcetera. Physics courses are recognized as excellent preparation for additional science based education. Employers recognize that people who have taken Physics courses can more quickly learn whatever they need to know to help the organization solve problems. Since the ability to create teams of problem solvers is critical to any employer's success they recognize the need to hire people who have taken Physics courses even if their business does not specifically require Physics. In this information age of world wide web computer based businesses and organizations, the need for people with Physics in their science background is increasing almost as rapidly as the use of the internet.
Any student regardless of their previous preparation can successfully complete Physics courses. You need to be willing to do the study and homework required and to continuously ask for the help you need to learn the needed communication, teamwork, and problem solving skills which will make you able to use Physics to help meet the needs of society. Physics students typically range from people that need to learn or remember some of the basic communication, math, and science that is contained in high school courses to those that have advanced placement college credit for work done while in high school. They get to know each other and work together to learn Physics.
Physics courses help you to recapture the wonder and excitement of learning about everything around you by the process of asking and answering qualitative and quantitative questions. Physics is fun and extremely helpful to your ability to ask and answer all the questions necessary to describe and explain anything you need to describe or explain. Physics can be the means by which you become able to achieve the future you want for yourself and family. Why not begin today?
Kathy Voiles • (865) 354-3000 ext. 4758 • Click name for email address
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