In his 4/23/01 Phys-L post "Re: AP Students," Rick Tarara writes:
"An extensive survey of working scientists (and I think engineers)
suggests that they view problem solving skills as the most important
aspect of their physics education. To be sure, they cite
'real-world' problem solving, but one must crawl (intro courses)
before they (sic) can run. Knowledge of physics (concepts) was WAY
down the list of importance. I think the survey was done by the
APS--anyone know the reference."
Tarara is probably referring to ref. 1. The respondents were physics
bachelors in three selected employment sectors: (a) Private, (b)
Government/National Labs, and (c) High School.
They were NOT asked to rank the relative importance of the various
components of their physics education as implied by Tarara. Instead,
they were asked to rate the "frequency with which they used each
skill in their current position on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 5
(extensively)." The table shown by Czujke reflects only the percent
who chose 4 or 5 (and not a frequency average as might also have been
more informative).
"Problem solving" rated near the top in all employment sectors.
"Knowledge of Physics" [NOT Tarara's "Knowledge of physics
(concepts)"] rated near the bottom in sectors a and b, and near the
top in sector c.
In my opinion, 3-decades-worth of research in physics education(2)
strongly suggests that effective solving of NON-ALGORITHMIC problems
is ENHANCED by conceptual understanding. It's little wonder that
"Physics Knowledge" came in near the bottom in the rating by physics
bachelors in employment sectors a and b, since "Physics Knowledge"
training consists of the memorization of algorithms, divorced from
conceptual understanding, in most current undergraduate
programs.
See ref. 3, pages 23-24, for a review (derived from ref. 4) of the
APS study,(1) as well as similar studies by the NSF, the US Labor
Department, and ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and
Technology).
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
REFERENCES
1. R. Czujko, Statistical Research Center of AIP, "Physics Bachelors
as a Passport to the Workplace: Recent Research Results") in "The
Changing Role of Physics Departments in Modern Universities:
Proceedings of the
ICUPE," ed. by E.F. Redish and J.S. Rigden, (AIP, 1997). p. 213 - 223.
3. R.R. Hake, "Is it Finally Time to Implement Curriculum S?" AAPT
Announcer 30(4), 103 (2000); on the web as ref. 13 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake> [CurriculumS.pdf., 3/15/01,
1200K] (400 references & footnotes, 390 hot-linked URL's).
4. A. Van Heuvelen & K. Andre, "Calculus-Based Physics and the
Engineering ABET 2000 Criteria," Undergraduate Physics for the New
Century, Conference of Physics Chairs, 14-16 April 2000;
<http://www.aapt.org/>.