We investigate learning difficulties among second-year students in electromagnetism courses when they apply Ampère-Maxwell's law. Using phenomenography, we analyzed written answers from 65 undergraduate physics students to four questions on Ampère's and Ampère-Maxwell's laws. We complemented our research by interviewing 12 students. To design the…

The science laboratory learning environment has been a distinctive area in science education since the 19th century. Unfortunately, students are generally not aware of what science instructors expect from laboratory experiences, and far too often, the undergraduate science laboratory curriculum lacks explicit, well-defined goals. Science…

One desired outcome of introductory physics instruction is that students will develop facility with reasoning quantitatively about physical phenomena. Little research has been done regarding how students develop the algebraic concepts and skills involved in reasoning productively about physics quantities, which is different from either…

We present an investigation into the interdisciplinary role of physics in a physics-for-nonphysicists course at Pomona College. This work is guided by prior research into introductory physics for life science (IPLS) courses, but attends to significant differences in the scope and context of this course. We interviewed enrolled students, physics…

An increasing number of introductory physics courses are seeking to incorporate "authentic practices," and a large area of focus in this trend is the incorporation of computational problems into the curriculum. These problems offer students an opportunity to engage with the programming practices and numerical problem-solving methods used…

Course syllabi are a required component of college and university courses. Syllabi present both broader course structuring practices, are a valuable "first impression" of what instructors want to offer their students, and are used as tools in course design. While best teaching practices suggest specific recommendations for syllabi…

This article describes a general education course offering, Physics and the Arts. During the development of this course, physics and arts faculty collaborated closely. We cover the usual physics phenomena for such a course--light, color, and sound--in addition to gravity, equilibrium, and spacetime. Goals of the course are to increase students'…

An institution-wide focus on deep learning has made significant changes in the biology and physics core course curriculum at the U.S. Air Force Academy. The biology course director has reworked course objectives to reflect the learning-focused approach to teaching, while the physics curriculum has adopted new learning outcomes and ways to…

Three aspects of an introductory course in physics are discussed in this article. They are the texts, the course proper and the laboratory. Together they form an integral part of the entire course. The laboratory, although a subject of much contention, has an important role to play in enhancing and complementing the lectures. The course should be…

The purpose of this study was to develop a taxonomy which would categorize high level physics problem-solving behaviors, and to examine the usefulness of such a classification system. This classification of learning objectives is based on complexity, a nonarbitrary measure which does not rely upon comparison between students but rather is based on…

These instructional objectives, written by Ronald Gibson have been selected from materials used at Golden West College (California). These objectives are offered simply as samples that may be used where they correspond to the skills, abilities, and attitudes instructors want their students to acquire. These objectives may also serve as models for…

Included are instructional objectives which can be considered for use in a classroom or laboratory. The objectives are followed by measurement items meant to test if a certain objective is accomplished. Means for judging the adequacy of student responses are given. The areas of electronics included in this publication are: Fundamentals, Block…

Describes general interest courses in physics, discussing enrollment patterns, philosophy and structure of the course, course goals, teaching methods, and student performance. Includes an outline of the laboratory syllabus for the course dealing with physics and the automobile. (JN)