In the undergraduate physics programs at many colleges and universities the only students deemed worthy of being physics majors are those whose ability, motivation to work, and interest in physics would be adequate to get them admitted to a graduate program, preferably at one of the top schools. Students of lesser ability are ignored. Other high ability students who might be interested in physics, but not as a career, are subtly, or not so subtly, discouraged from majoring in physics. Yet in an increasingly technical society there is a far greater need in a broad range of occupations for scientifically literate college graduates than there is for more Ph.D.s desperately wanting to be physics or astronomy researchers, but forced to grudgingly seek employment elsewhere.
In this talk I outline how we have broadened our program to encompass non-traditional physics majors with a greater breadth of interests and how we consequently have seen the number of physics majors triple to 45 graduates in 1997. Our approach has been to introduce a variety of options with widely different math and physics requirements:
Professional Option -- a standard no-holds-barred sequence of courses intended to prepare students for graduate school.
Five Year Engineering Option -- a five-year program leading to dual degrees in physics (BA) and engineering.
General Option -- a liberal arts (BA) degree with maximal flexibility and minimal specifically required courses for pre-medical students, pre-law students, high school teachers, and students with no particular career goal in mind but who are attracted to a science major that gives them the flexibility to try out a variety of different fields or possibly double major.
Applied Option -- a BS degree that emphasizes a breadth of technical knowledge rather than narrow specialization and is designed for students who do not want to pursue a Ph.D., but who are interested in a job in some applied area or possibly a Masters degree .
Introducing a flexible curriculum is not enough to guarantee an influx of physics majors; advising is an even more important factor. Students who are unsure about their career goals are easily discouraged by indifferent, inaccurate, or hard-to-get advising. The problem is compounded by numerous options. Our advising system uses careful written documentation of the requirements, an e-mail alias reaching all majors and touch-tone registration so that an advisor does not spend time answering routine questions or approving class schedules. This frees time for more substantial questions such as career options. We find the most effective way to recruit physics majors and provide meaningful advice is at the first meeting with a student interested in majoring in physics. Such students frequently drop in without an appointment, but even if the student's interest seems somewhat tenuous, we find it essential, if at all possible, to immediately take the time - 15 minutes or more - to explore the student's interests, outline the career opportunities, help him or her choose the appropriate option, and to give the appropriate written material. This is the ideal time to discuss the advantages of getting a broad education and perhaps doing a double major. Many students have only a vague or very narrow understanding of what a career in physics might entail and such intensive one-on-one advising helps them solidify their thinking and see the advantages of studying physics. For some students this first meeting is the last time they will seek advice except in their senior year when they are job hunting or looking into graduate or professional schools. Others keep closer contact by dropping in for a "quick question" or by e-mail.
The declining number of physics majors in the nineties has been an issue for discussion for most physics departments. The APS Council resolution (APS News, July 1994) which calls for preparing students for a broad range of careers and urges physics departments to reexamine their programs was taken very seriously by our department at Moorhead State University. Since that time, the department has conducted a survey of area businesses and consulted many industrial and academic professionals in an attempt to respond to the changing realities and expectations of the work place.
Considering limited employment opportunities for traditional physics majors, the department has developed several flexible curriculum options to choose from. These options include physics with business concentration, physics with mass communication focus and 3-2 (physics + engineering) program in cooperation with the Institute of Technology at the University of Minnesota. Our survey shows that the background in business related courses will definitely be a tremendous advantage. Many potential employers have repeatedly told us that they generally look for well grounded and broadly educated individuals with good problem solving, communication, management and cooperative skills. Particularly, small to medium size businesses prefer to hire someone with working knowledge of business/management principles together with science background.
As a department, we have also reexamined our course requirements for physics major i.e. not minimizing it but making it more practical. We have made the following major changes;
a. Quantum Mechanics has been moved from the required course listing to being one of the electives. As expected, this issue was discussed considerably and consensus was reached that those students going to Graduate school will be very strongly encouraged or perhaps forced to take this course. However, for other tracks this course was not considered to be a critical requirement. All students in physics are required to take a course on Modern Physics and thus get some exposure to quantum mechanical principles.
b. We introduced an Internship (up to 4 credits) as one of the electives in physics major. The internship experience provides exposure to many skills that academic experience cannot. In the present environment of difficult job situation, the internship experience provides an edge. It is our expectation that during internship, students will be working on projects that may even fulfill the requirements of a Senior Project.
Although, the proposed curriculum innovations are relatively new and not yet fully implemented, our continued dialogue and discussion with professional colleges, both in academia and industrial setting, have been positive. The following are some example comments from company executives in our survey:
-Physics majors with skills in business, chemistry, or other options would have a strong possibility for employment at this company... an employee working here would need to have many skills... could use an intern.
-...very willing to have an intern and would like to work with an area universities so graduates are more prepared for the work force.
-...would need a physics trained student and computer background was very important to the company.
-...most employees do technical sales work...felt that Industrial students were not quite as employable as a physics student. This company is very receptive to working with interns.
It is important to realize that the proposed curriculum choices may not lead to doubling or tripling the number of majors overnight but they hold promise for institution like ours. At a minimum:
- Proposed options increase the employability of physics majors with added course work in business/management and internship experience.
- Students not willing or able to go to Graduate school in physics can choose other options without giving up their passion for physics.
- Development of such programs cultivate the collaborative environment among faculty form diverse disciplines which are long considered to have no overlapping curricular interests.
It is easy to document both the strong demand for physics teachers at the secondary level and the rather poor qualifications on average of persons currently in those positions. Many undergraduate physics majors who might otherwise be interested in teaching high school physics, however, do not pursue that career option because the requirements for certification are quite strenuous in many states. We have accordingly developed at Haverford College a concentration in education for physics majors which provides experiential preparation for teaching physics but requires fewer courses beyond the standard physics major than does the typical curriculum leading to certification.
The concentration consists of a total of 6 courses: 4 are offered through our Education program and provide a general introduction to education and a final semester summary seminar. The other two are novel courses developed by and offered in our department in which the student learns, by doing, how to teach physics. These courses are typically taken by advanced undergraduate physics majors and involve participation in the instruction of our introductory course for non-majors. One of the two involves the student in teaching laboratory physics--activities include presentation of pre-lab comments, a critique of an existing experiment, and the development and testing of a new experiment. The other course involves the student in the classroom portion of the introductory course. In it he or she attends and critiques class sessions, participates in the development and grading of exams, leads sessions providing individualized assistance in problem solving, leads one class session during the semester, develops a demonstration to use in that class presentation and becomes familiar with the modern literature on physics pedagogy with emphasis on peer instruction and misconceptions.
Although a program leading to certification in secondary education is available at our institution, most of our majors who are interested in teaching have opted for the concentration route described here. The career options for a B.S. physics major afforded by the concentration include proceeding directly to a teaching position in a situation that does not require certification. (Most private schools do not require starting teachers to be certified, and in addition many states--19 as of this writing--have approved so-called Charter Schools which operate with public funding, but under charters that relax many of the strict mandates that govern teacher appointment in public education.) Or a student may enter an M.A. program in teaching and obtain both that degree and certification in a little over a year, thus becoming highly qualified--and also highly sought after--for teaching positions in any school setting.
Since 1993 eleven of our graduating majors have gone on to education careers: one obtained certification as an undergraduate here; eight moved directly into teaching positions with just their B.S. in physics, most having taken the Association courses; and two obtained Masters degrees with certification before beginning to teach. A full description of this program including syllabi is available; please write to lroelofs@haverford.edu.