Physics First is an educational program that teaches a basic physics course in the ninth grade (usually 15-year-olds), rather than the biology course which is more standard in public schools. Since antiquity, people have tried to understand the behavior of matter: why unsupported objects drop to the ground, why different materials have different properties, and so forth. ... Main articles: Life The most salient example of biological universality is that all living things share a common carbon-based biochemistry and in particular pass on their characteristics via genetic material, which is based on nucleic acids such as DNA and which uses a common genetic code with only minor...

American public schools traditionally teach biology in the second year of high school, chemistry in the third, and physics in the fourth. The belief is that this order is more accessible, largely because biology can be taught with less mathematics, and will do the most toward providing some scientific literacy for the largest number of students.

Proponents of Physics First argue that turning this order around lays the foundations for better understanding of chemistry, which in turn will lead to more comprehension of biology.

Montgomery Blair High School's Magnet program, one of the country's premier Math/Science schools, has been teaching physics as the first science in high school since its founding in 1985. Montgomery Blair High School is a Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, public school named for Montgomery Blair, a lawyer who represented Dred Scott in his United States Supreme Court case, and served as Postmaster General under President Abraham Lincoln. ...

External links

• American Association of Physics Teachers
• Australian Physics First web site