Invariants in the Teaching of Electrical Science

Emphasis is placed on the fact that, in spite of changes in technology which render previous techniques obsolete, it is possible to identify certain principles (pedagogical invariants) which are bound to remain valid in the eyes of the scientist and useful to the engineer. In terms of the central role of electrical communications in the development of electrical science, two case items are cited: the first concerns electrical communications by wire and by radio and, hence, the ensuing dichotomy between the treatment of transmission phenomena along wires and in space; the second deals with the development of communications before and after the formulation of information theory. Proposals for an electrical science curriculum based primarily on selected and suitably edited passages from classical textbooks and papers are advanced.