Physics and the 3 Rs: Recruit, Restructure and Retain. A Laboratory Oriented, Introductory Physics Course by Guided Inquiry to Attract & Retain Women and Minority Students

联合国开发计划署的物理系和班尼特学院的数学和计算机科学系正在为理科专业学生测试一门为期两学期的综合物理入门课程。该课程可作为传统调查课程的准备或替代课程。该项目是一所拥有1.1万名白人为主的州立大学和一所拥有600名非裔美国女性的私立学院之间的合作项目。该项目正在评估传统的两学期物理入门课程采用一种截然不同的方法对女性、少数族裔和二线学生的影响。学生对课程的吸引力，在课程过程中获得和保留的物理知识，以及学生在课程中的留存率都是衡量的。此外，还将监测物理科学和数学课程未来的成功情况。拟议课程背后的宗旨来自于最近对物理教育的研究，私人投资机构多年来在教授入门课程方面收集的观察结果，私人投资公司在皮埃蒙特计划中最近所做的工作，有文件证明妇女和非亚裔少数族裔在物理学领域的入选率低和流失率高，以及人口研究，这些研究概述了在科学、数学和工程领域增加这些人口数量的必要性。拟议课程的学生比通常的调查课程的学生更深入地研究更少的学科领域，并且以更合理的教学方法和更令人兴奋的智力来这样做。这门每学期四学分的课程完全在实验室环境中授课，每周三天，每天两个小时。学生们正在通过指导性探究的方法为具体经验奠定坚实的基础，并通过基于微型计算机的实验室组件接触到现代数据采集和分析工具的使用。

The Physics Department of UNCG and the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science of Bennett College are testing an integrated two semester introductory physics course for science majors. The course serves either as preparation for, or as a replacement of the traditional survey course. The project is a cooperative venture between a predominantly white state university of 11,000 and a private college of 600 African American women. The project is evaluating the effects of a decidedly different approach to the traditional two semester introductory physics course on women, minority and 'second tier' students. The attraction of the students to the course, the knowledge of physics gained and retained during the course, and the retention rate of the students in the course are all being measured. In addition, the future success in courses in the physical sciences and mathematics will be monitored. The tenet behind the proposed course comes from recent research in physics education, observations collected by the PIs over many years of teaching introductory courses, recent work done by the PI in Project PIEDMONT, documented evidence describing the low entry rate and high attrition rate of women and non-Asian minorities in physical sciences, and the demographic studies which profile the necessity of increasing the numbers of these populations in the areas of science, mathematics and engineering. Students in the proposed course are examining fewer subject areas in greater depth than students in the usual survey course, and are doing so in ways which are pedagogically more sound and intellectually more exciting. The four-credit hour per semester course is being taught entirely in a laboratory setting for two hours per day, three days a week. The students are developing a firm foundation of concrete experiences through a method of guided inquiry, and are being exposed to the use of modern data acquisition and analysis tools through a microcomputer based laboratory component.