Suggests that university physics teaching maintains rigorous depth but does not place enough emphasis on communication skills with nonphysicists. Discusses the problem of recruiting university graduates into service industries which have predominately awarded managerial positions to personnel with work experience rather than formal education. (MLH)

Concludes that virtually all the innovations of the past ten years in undergraduate physics instruction have had a common aim of involving students more actively in the learning process. Provides an overview of the major innovations, such as audio tutorial methods, self paced systems, programed textbooks, and computer assistance. (MLH)

Describes a method for the determination of the velocity of sound using a dual oscilloscope on which is displayed the sinusoidal input into a loudspeaker and the signal picked up by a microphone. (GS)

Describes the magnetic field of Helmholtz coils qualitatively and then provides the basis for a quantitative expression. Since the mathematical calculations are very involved, a computer program for solving the mathematical expression is presented and explained. (GS)

Describes a demonstration which illustrates the diffusion of gases across a membrane. (GS)

The relative apparent difficulty of physics concepts at the grade 11 and 12 level was examined using a questionnaire survey addressed to all physics teachers within the providence of British Columbia. The physics courses were described using 22 concepts to cover the Physics 11 course and 30 concepts to cover the Physics 12 course. Subjects were…

This paper focuses on radioactive practicle counting statistics in laboratory and field applications, intended to aid the Health Physics technician's understanding of the effect of indeterminant errors on radioactive particle counting. It indicates that although the statistical analysis of radioactive disintegration is best described by a Poisson…

This exploratory study on the College Board's Admissions Testing Program (ATP) Physics Test can be divided into two main parts, each designed to address a specific set of questions: Part I, Are there any systematic differences in male/female performance on individual items or subgroups of items that can help in interpreting the differences between…

This paper presents the situation of women scientists in the United States in the fields of physics and astronomy. It gives a brief picture of the situation since the beginning of the 18th century and up to the start of this century. During the past 77 years, the percentage of participation of women in the two fields has fluctuated with a sharp…