The Stuyvesant High School Online Course Guide

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It is probably true quite generally that in the history of human thinking the most fruitful developments frequently take place at those points where two different lines of thought meet. These lines may have their roots in quite different parts of human culture, in different times or different cultural environments or different religious traditions: hence if they actually meet, that is, if they are at least so much related to each other that a real interaction can take place, then one may hope that new and interesting things may follow.
--Werner Heisenberg as quoted by Fritjof Capra in The Tao of Physics

Physics and Metaphysics is a year-long Advanced Placement English course that follows the concepts of the AP Physics B curriculum in the order in which they are presented. The course is open to juniors and seniors enrolled in AP Physics B or AP Physics C.

This is a class where, as Heisenberg would have it, "two different lines of thought meet." Here we will approach both physics and English in an entirely new way, examining physics concepts such as measurement, inertia, entropy, optics, chaos, string theory, relativity, and others in the context of literature. Students will also study visual art, television, film, and texts written by physicists for a general audience, as well as exhibits at the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History.

Students will be encouraged to take the A.P. Language and Composition exam in the Spring. Applicants for the class must have at least a 92% average in English, or the special permission of the Department.

Among the texts included:

•Bertolt Brecht, Galileo
•Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics (Excerpts)
•Emily Dickinson (selected poems)
•Michael Frayn, Copenhagen
•Lost (TV series)
•Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time
•Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb
•Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Watchmen
•Tom Stoppard, Arcadia
•Dick Teresi and Leon Lederman The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What is the Question? (Excerpts)
•The Terminator films
•Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle
•H.G. Wells, The Time Machine

Format: In addition to nightly readings and daily class discussion, the course incorporates dramatic performance, research, creative and group projects into the AP English curriculum.