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Re: [Phys-l] Getting more physics classes offered...




In response to Getting more physics classes offered
Scott had the right idea…..exposure. Our school holds a Saturday camp day for elementary students run by our high school AP science students. The high school students plan and present hands on activities and demonstrations geared to expose our younger students to a variety of science topics. The elementary students pay to come to camp which is used to supplement the science department discretionary fund. What is really neat…our high school students remember fondly their own experience going to this camp when they were in elementary school.

Our FIRST Robotics team has increased the number of students interested in engineering. Our team brings out the Robot for demonstrations during freshman orientation. As the coach, I recruit team members from Physics I or AP B. These students get hooked on engineering and take AP C in their senior year.

I have a student whose father teaches Physics and runs a Physics Fair for his school community. Inviting elementary schools, middle schools, and the general community, his students plan and present Physics demos and projects in a fair like atmosphere. If younger students are exposed perhaps you may see an increase in interest.

I think it is important for your students and your guidance counselors to know that having Physics on a high school transcript usually gives the student an edge in the college application process but be careful, sometimes this creates other problems. In the competitive northern Virginia area, everyone wants to take AP classes. Many students take AP Physics and Physics I for the label on the transcript not the desire to learn Physics which can be frustrating due to their lack of interest in preparing for the AP exam and disinterest after gaining entrance into college.



--- On Fri, 2/6/09, Jon and Holly Dodd <doddinva@shentel.net> wrote:

From: Jon and Holly Dodd <doddinva@shentel.net>
Subject: [Phys-l] Getting more physics classes offered...
To: phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
Date: Friday, February 6, 2009, 7:17 PM
Hello. My name is Jonathan Dodd, and I am a relatively new
Physics teacher. At my school, Physics is only offered every
other year. (Hard to believe, I know. I've been trying
to change that.) Currently, I teach Biology and AP Biology,
but I am working on my masters in Physics currently with
UVA.

My school currently has about 650 students, and the Physics
class is only offered every other year. (That's 1 class
out of 4 semesters of classes) When I asked the guidance
counselor why that was, the response was that there was not
enough interest to offer more classes. Does anyone else have
a school that is similar in size to mine with more Physics
classes taught?

With the number of students in my school, I would expect to
see at least 1 physics class offered each semester ( we run
on a 4 x 4 block schedule). For the number of students that
we send to college that are getting science related degrees,
I would think that it would benefit them to have a high
school physics class. (I majored in Biology, and had to take
two classes of Physics.)

Does anyone think that it should be the guidance department
that encourages students to take Physics?
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