Our students are burnt out, and we need to pay attention. Last fall, I attended the 2022 Physics Congress of Sigma Pi Sigma and Society of Physics Students (SPS). (The conference is sometimes known as PhysCon.) It is the largest gathering of physics and astronomy undergraduate students in the world—there’s around 1000 of them there plus around 200 other physicists there as mentors, speakers, etc. During the opening session, these students were surveyed about the top issues affecting physics and astronomy departments today. Among options like careers and jobs, lack of research funding, and many other issues, burnout rose to the top by a large margin. The number two spot went to mental health concerns.
{"title":"We Can’t Ignore the Pandemic Fallout in Our Physics Classes","authors":"M. Wright","doi":"10.1119/5.0133979","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0133979","url":null,"abstract":"Our students are burnt out, and we need to pay attention.\u0000 Last fall, I attended the 2022 Physics Congress of Sigma Pi Sigma and Society of Physics Students (SPS). (The conference is sometimes known as PhysCon.) It is the largest gathering of physics and astronomy undergraduate students in the world—there’s around 1000 of them there plus around 200 other physicists there as mentors, speakers, etc. During the opening session, these students were surveyed about the top issues affecting physics and astronomy departments today. Among options like careers and jobs, lack of research funding, and many other issues, burnout rose to the top by a large margin. The number two spot went to mental health concerns.","PeriodicalId":48709,"journal":{"name":"Physics Teacher","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46921559","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Light pollution is a detrimental consequence of excess or unwise use of artificial light at night. Hopes for reducing light pollution have been rooted in educating teachers, students, and the general public. These programs manifest in a diverse set of disciplines. Many programs focus on connecting light pollution to the damaging biological and environmental effects. There are even efforts to connect solutions for light pollution to engineering education. “Globe at Night” is an educational program that engages participants in astronomical observations of the night sky to bring awareness to the problem of light pollution and lies squarely in the domain of observational astronomy. Many of these efforts make use of physics that goes “under the radar”; we advocate for making direct connections to the physics of light pollution to students and teachers.
{"title":"Why every astronomy class should devote time to light pollution\u0000 education","authors":"J. Birriel, J. K. Adkins, A. Fagan","doi":"10.1119/5.0149904","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0149904","url":null,"abstract":"Light pollution is a detrimental consequence of excess or unwise use of artificial light at night. Hopes for reducing light pollution have been rooted in educating teachers, students, and the general public. These programs manifest in a diverse set of disciplines. Many programs focus on connecting light pollution to the damaging biological and environmental effects. There are even efforts to connect solutions for light pollution to engineering education. “Globe at Night” is an educational program that engages participants in astronomical observations of the night sky to bring awareness to the problem of light pollution and lies squarely in the domain of observational astronomy. Many of these efforts make use of physics that goes “under the radar”; we advocate for making direct connections to the physics of light pollution to students and teachers.","PeriodicalId":48709,"journal":{"name":"Physics Teacher","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44305688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Erratum: “A Simulation Experiment Using Algodoo: What Force Makes a\u0000 Car Accelerate, and What Does the Acceleration Depend On?” Phys.\u0000 Teach. 61, 271–275 (2023)","authors":"","doi":"10.1119/5.0154582","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0154582","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48709,"journal":{"name":"Physics Teacher","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46222316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A balloon in the sky","authors":"Terrence Toepker","doi":"10.1119/5.0149312","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0149312","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48709,"journal":{"name":"Physics Teacher","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44214982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A student says, “Even though the physics involved can be basically the same, the setup is what drives me to like astronomy more,” comparing his introductory physics class to his introductory astronomy class. Another student concurs, “Astronomy is more exciting.” What is it about astronomy that appeals to students? Is there a way to harness such enthusiasm within the context of an introductory physics class while retaining the same level of rigor? Here, we describe a study that shows that, compared with an introductory physics course for science and engineering majors, an introductory astronomy course (also for science and engineering majors) had similar gains on the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), but students’ attitudes and approaches to problem solving were significantly better in the latter. Moreover, interviewed students corroborated the survey findings that the astronomy course was significantly more enjoyable and engaging. This suggests that physics instructors can learn from the way astronomy is often taught, in order to better engage students.
{"title":"What Physics Instructors Can Learn from Astronomy Teaching","authors":"M. Good, Andrew J. Mason, Chandralekha Singh","doi":"10.1119/5.0074117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0074117","url":null,"abstract":"A student says, “Even though the physics involved can be basically the same, the setup is what drives me to like astronomy more,” comparing his introductory physics class to his introductory astronomy class. Another student concurs, “Astronomy is more exciting.” What is it about astronomy that appeals to students? Is there a way to harness such enthusiasm within the context of an introductory physics class while retaining the same level of rigor? Here, we describe a study that shows that, compared with an introductory physics course for science and engineering majors, an introductory astronomy course (also for science and engineering majors) had similar gains on the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), but students’ attitudes and approaches to problem solving were significantly better in the latter. Moreover, interviewed students corroborated the survey findings that the astronomy course was significantly more enjoyable and engaging. This suggests that physics instructors can learn from the way astronomy is often taught, in order to better engage students.","PeriodicalId":48709,"journal":{"name":"Physics Teacher","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48973805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：