High School Physics, two-year Colleges, and Physics Majors

• Autores: Susan White
• Localización: The Physics Teacher, ISSN 0031-921X, Vol. 51, Nº. 6, 2013, pág. 350
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Show Abstract We have just completed the data collection for our 2012�13 Nationwide Survey of High School Physics and expect to have results to report in the spring. In the interim, we will take a look at physics in two-year colleges (TYCs). In 2007, we surveyed undergraduate seniors in degree-granting physics departments, and we asked these students if they had begun the post-secondary career at a TYC. Nine percent of the physics undergraduate seniors in 2007 had started their college education at a TYC, and these students differ significantly from those who did not start at a TYC. The two graphs at right depict the high school physics experience for these two groups of students. More than one-fourth of those who started at a TYC did not take physics in high school, and only 18% took AP physics. The 6% of those who did not start at a TYC and did not take physics is consistent with the 5% of high school seniors who attend a school where physics is not offered. Their apparent difference of interest in physics in high school is also evident from their knowledge about AP physics offerings: 25% of those who started at a TYC did not know if AP physics was offered at their high school versus only 5% of those who did not start at a TYC. Since their high school physics experiences were so different, it is likely that something happened in their physics courses at the TYC that captured these students' interest in physics.