ࡱ> 685 bjbj .(hh dd  8 %f999OO***SUUUUUUUy**yyUOOj###y|OOS#yS###O0bV/#?0#``#`#*0Z"#|***UU***yyyy`*********d m: Academic Year 2007/08 Assessment Report Physics Department Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences The Physics Department at ͷ offers a B.S. and B.A. in Physics. We also offer introductory Physics classes for engineering, pre-medical and education majors. The ͷ Physics Dept. has a nationally endorsed Society of Physics Students SPS organization and places students into Physics graduate studies elsewhere, most recently our best graduate went to the Harvard University in Boston. The majority of students taking our Physics courses are in accredited majors like engineering, education or chemistry; many of these test students acquisition of physics. Thus we aspire to numerical proof of good learned outcomes through systematic administration of standardized examinations which gives us our rank nationally. For our introductory courses at the 200- and 300-level, these exams are the AP tests at the B and C levels, respectively. For our undergraduate Physics majors we judge their performance by results from the GRE Physics test. Introductory Courses Assessment In this, the fourth year of our assessment testing, there was an extensive program of testing in 200 and 300 level classes using Advanced Placement questions for all students at the end of each class. In Physics 213, 214, 313, and 314 we used exams as described in previous years report but with different questions. Performances of tested students are summarized in the attached grid. Overall our 200 and 300 level physics class students performed well, with 64% of the students doing above the minimum required level. The results from these tests are what we have used to rank our students performance to a national average of mid B to upper C. In Physics 111, our conceptual physics course, we used the Force Concept Inventory as both pre- and post-test, and examined both final level of understanding and gain in understanding. On the pre-test, the average was 29%, and on the post-test, 38%, for an average gain in knowledge (defined as g = (post-pre)/(100-pre)) of 0.15. According to Hake, pre-test numbers in the 30s are typical in colleges and universities, so our students are typical of others; our gains are below average: he reports T = 0.230.04. Never-the-less, this years Physics 111 class performance is much better than last year which was only 0.08; this may be due to the fact that the new instructor who taught this class was performance demanding of the students and although there were complaints that she was hard and expected to much from the student it may be the reason that the student actually improved. Overall, the results were informative for preparations for future improvements. We think that this may be due to several reasons, not all of which apply to each class. Some of the problems can be solved straightforwardly: warning students ahead of time about the assessment exam; having some sort of incentive to do well; ensuring that the concurrent enrollment class uses a college-level textbook. We all agree that a major problem in 213 and 313 is lack of mathematical preparation: Though each course specifies a prerequisite (Math 112 and 242, respectively) many students ignore this requirement, which is not enforced institutionally. In addition 313 require either high school physics or Physics 151. Our plan to deal with this is to institute a pre-test which at least at first (since students have already enrolled for the fall) will be given on the first day of class; students performing poorly will be forewarned, and may decide to drop down to 151 or simply be aware that they will need to work harder. In future we hope to be able to have a system like that in Mathematics, which places students based on their performance on a placement test. The single biggest factor that affects the quality of learning is class size. At extremely large schools Lectures are done in 250 student classes by highly experienced faculty and then these students break down into smaller 20 person recitation and lab sections for interactive learning exercises. These recitation and lab sections are often taught by Graduate Teaching Assistants which we currently lack. An alternative is to have class sizes of 30 to 35 students for the 200 and 300 level introductory physics classes. This would be the single major factor that could dramatically improve student performance in standardized tests with national rankings. It would require a substantial increase in the Physics Dept. faculty size but any such improvements would be welcomed by the Engineering Depts. Graduating Senior Assessment We had one graduating seniors this year. This student retuned to her home country of Japan for employment who had sponsored her tuition and did not take the Physics GRE exam.  Hake, R. R. (1998). Interactive-engagement versus traditional methods: A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses. American Journal of Physics, 66, 64-74. 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