This paper reports observations that show a significant effect of class meeting time on student evaluations of teaching for an introductory college physics class. Students in a lecture section with an early-morning meeting time gave the class and instructors consistently lower ratings than those in an otherwise nearly identical section that met an…

Discusses experience of conducting a project designed to interest and train women in physics, involving student recruitment, course design, laboratory work planning, and counseling services. Included are surveyed faculty and graduate student comments and participants' attitudes toward the project. (CC)

Describes the development and organization of a course begun in 1962 consisting of a sequence of manipulative learning operations. The laboratory operations of Quantitative Physical Science lead the student through the fundamentals of instrumentation and of measurement processes. Principles studied include physical, electrical, chemical, and wave…

Describes the design, development, and validity of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), a test designed to assess student understanding of the most basic concepts in Newtonian physics and to evaluate the effectiveness of instruction. Discusses various uses of the FCI and the interpretation of the FCI score. (JRH)

Describes the factor analysis and validity of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), a test designed to assess student understanding of the most basic concepts in Newtonian physics and to evaluate the effectiveness of instruction. Discusses problems in the use of the FCI and urges caution in interpreting and using FCI scores. (JRH)

Findings from a study of California high school physics teachers and students show positive correlations between student perceptions of physics and (1) extent of teacher subject matter preparations, (2) teacher association with other physics teachers, (3) inclusion of historical, social, and political aspects of physics in course objective, and…

Results of a questionnaire survey of 455 two- and four-year institutions on the status on noncalculus physics courses are presented. Responses from 265 questionnaires focus on enrollment, textbooks, reasons for textbook changes, laboratory manuals, and nationally standardized set of laboratory experiments. Selected comments from individual…