A couple of things have popped up about FSU's "senior lab" projects
because one of the projects deals with education. One person seemed
a tad upset by the inclusion of such a thing in a physics lab, while
another person defended education research as a legitimate activity for
physicists. As the "project coordinator" for the course, I'm in the
camp of the defenders of education-related projects. In the past, the
projects have mainly dealt with the development of teaching materials
by students who happen to be seeking certification to teach physics, and
I believe this is an entirely appropriate activity for such a person.
The project for this year is more in the nature of "research", because
the student wants to test the effectiveness of different teaching
methods. (In our initial discussions about the project, I made it clear
to the student that I expected effectiveness of instruction to be given
as much attention as student attitudes, but this was not mentioned in
the abstract. The student has been made aware that the actual project
MUST address effectiveness of instruction, and the progress reports
deal mostly with that topic instead of student attitudes.)
I would like to note that we have one or two faculty
members in our own department who have attempted to dictate how I run
the course (even to the point of telling me how grades should be
assigned), and they have recommended that educational projects be
singled out as inappropriate. After I rant for a while
about academic freedom, I point out that education research _is_ a
legitimate activity for physicists, and I shall continue to list
physics education as one of the possible research topics for as long
as I'm in charge of the course.