Classical How is Jackson’s Electrodynamics taught during undergraduate?

[gfgfgf]

I’ve heard that in some countries (for example, Argentina), the curriculum is structured differently from the typical American program. In the U.S., students usually take a general physics course first, then move on to a textbook like Griffiths, and only encounter Jackson at the graduate level. In contrast, in those countries students go through a general physics course (such as Resnick-Halliday) and then proceed directly to Jackson. If the slower, more gradual approach is considered important for developing intuition, how do students in this system build that intuition? Doesn’t this approach risk leaving gaps in their knowledge, or result in students being able to solve problems without a real physical understanding of what they are doing?

 

[renormalize]

... In contrast, in those countries students go through a general physics course (such as Resnick-Halliday) and then proceed directly to Jackson. ...

Can you please cite some specific universities and their curricula that explicitly demonstrate that Halliday and Resnick (typically used as a text for freshman physics majors) is followed by Jackson E&M (typically used for first-year physics graduate students).

 

[Muu9]

Can you please cite some specific universities and their curricula that explicitly demonstrate that Halliday and Resnick (typically used as a text for freshman physics majors) is followed by Jackson E&M (typically used for first-year physics graduate students).

Different country but I found this from Germany: https://www.physes.uni-leipzig.de/f...20915_BSc-IPSP-3years_module-descriptions.pdf

 

[alan2]

Different country but I found this from Germany: https://www.physes.uni-leipzig.de/f...20915_BSc-IPSP-3years_module-descriptions.pdf

That’s a 3 year BSc curriculum. In Germany students have had 13 years of education and they’ve already learned calculus and the equivalent of something like Halliday and Resnick. The material is basically the same in most countries, the structure of the educational system is different.

 

[Demystifier]

In my case (Zagreb, Croatia) at the first year we used the Berkeley course, and then at the third year the lectures on electrodynamics was a mixture of several books, including Jackson, Landau-Lifshitz and Griffiths.

 

[Muu9]

In my case (Zagreb, Croatia) at the first year we used the Berkeley course, and then at the third year the lectures on electrodynamics was a mixture of several books, including Jackson, Landau-Lifshitz and Griffiths.

What about the second year?

 

[Demystifier]

What about the second year?

No electrodynamics at all.

 

[Muu9]

No electrodynamics at all.

What are your thoughts on the way your degree was structured and paced?

 

[martinbn]

What about the second year?

I would be surprised if there is a degree where electrodynamics is taught every year.

 

[DaveE]

In my case (Zagreb, Croatia) at the first year we used the Berkeley course, and then at the third year the lectures on electrodynamics was a mixture of several books, including Jackson, Landau-Lifshitz and Griffiths.

Same at Caltech in the late 1970s, but I think EM was just Jackson.

 

[Demystifier]

What are your thoughts on the way your degree was structured and paced?

A few easy courses were structured so that I learned absolutely nothing there, but most of the courses were ok. All in all, I am satisfied.