This article describes and illustrates a physics course for first-year college students whose only knowledge of physics is that they do not like the subject. The physics content is driven entirely by what appears in the daily newspapers and generally covers most physics topics in a semester. This course was structured as a learning community that…

While other fields such as statistics and education have examined various issues with quantitative work, few studies in physics education research (PER) have done so. We conducted a two-phase study to identify and to understand the extent of these issues in quantitative PER. During phase 1, we conducted a focus group of three experts in this area,…

This work reports a classroom experience of a general physics course designed to foster also the initiation of preservice mathematics and biology teachers to physics pedagogical content knowledge. To modify the conceptions that these students have about teaching and learning, the course was taught using different active learning instructional…

This study aimed at finding out the degree of including international standards of science education in the physics syllabus of the secondary stage in Palestinian schools. The sample of the study consisted of the analytical aspect of the physics textbooks of the eleventh and twelfth grades. The findings of the study show that the rates of…

We argue, based on a multi-year collaboration to develop a pedagogy course for physics majors by experts in physics, education, and the science of learning, that the process of teaching science majors about education and the science of learning, and evidence-based teaching methods in particular, requires conceptual change analogous to that…

During the 2012-13 academic year, the Statistic Research Center (SRC) collected data from a representative national sample of over 3,500 public and private high schools across the U.S. to inquire about physics availabilities and offerings. This report describes their findings. SRC takes two different approaches to describe the characteristics of…

In recent decades, the literature paid attention to students' conceptions of the nature of disciplines. This study aimed to investigate how students' cohesive and fragment conceptions of physics changed with a major change in senior high school physics syllabus. We obtained measures of conceptions of physics by utilizing a 20-item questionnaire…

Syllabi in the science subjects, biology, chemistry and physics at lower and general upper secondary school are compared in the light of their underlying philosophies, goals, objectives and recognized importance in science teaching. Even though all syllabi were prepared within the same framework, great differences among syllabi concerning…

We designed a physics course for prospective elementary and middle school teachers to foster aspects of scientific thinking recommended in reform documents. Because the elementary school curriculum focuses heavily on literacy, we also explicitly integrated physics and literacy learning in this course. By integrating physics and literacy learning,…

This article describes, and then applies a newly developed framework for classroom citizenship as an entry point into addressing social justice issues in urban science classrooms. The author provides in-depth descriptions of cogenerative dialogues, coteaching, and cosmopolitanism (3Cs), and presents this triad of tools as an approach to…

Two physics courses which serve as alternatives to general college courses in physics are outlined: physics with astrophysics and physics with electronics. Details are given of the structure of the courses and third year options are specified. (DT)

A program designed for nonscience majors around two approaches: basic concept of modern physics and the physics of urban and environmental problems. The first semester was intended to familiarize students with the philosophy of physics and its relation to human thought; the second semester dealt with the impact of physics and technology on modern…

Describes the features of and assessment instruments for a new conceptual physics course for non-science majors called 'Wonders of Technology', developed at the Virginia Commonwealth University. (Author/KHR)

Describes a physics course designed to relate to people with interests in fields not closely associated with physics. Guidelines are suggested for teachers who are developing similar courses. (Author/DF)