Growth in Undergraduate Physics at
the University of Arkansas, Part II
Art Hobson
 As
reported by my colleague Gay Stewart (FEd Newsletter Fall
2000), physics course enrollments are up at the University of Arkansas,
the number of undergraduate physics majors is up, and the physics baccalaureate
graduation rate is sharply up from 2.5 per year during 1990-97 to about
15 per year beginning in 1998. In the early1990s our undergraduate
program was a typical example of the general physics slump of recent
years, with under-enrolled classes and low graduation rates. Looking
for solutions, we decided to pursue several new paths. The thrust is
toward more flexible, practical, and student-friendly paths for three
categories of students: non-scientists, non-physicists who can use
a physics degree outside of physics, and future physicists. Stewart
reported on our BS degree program for future physicists, where stronger
enrollments are a result of a reformed University Physics II course,
improved TA training, three new non-Ph.D. degree tracks, more undergraduate
research opportunities, and better mentoring. I will report on our
programs for non-scientists, and for non-physicists who are pursuing
a physics degree.
Reaching out to non-scientists
A healthy physics profession must be rooted in the
entire society, rather than in scientists alone, because ultimately
it is legislators, voters, parents, teachers, and other non-scientists
who will determine the fate of physics. Thus it behooves us to develop
large and effective physics literacy programs on every college campus.
Nearly 80% of the students at the University of Arkansas
are majoring in fields outside of science, mathematics, and engineering.
Our department reaches these students with two introductory courses
for non-scientists: Physics and Human Affairs, and Survey of the Universe.
We currently teach 750 per year in the physics course and 410 in the
astronomy course. This works out to about 40% of the non-science undergraduates
on our campus who take one or both of these two courses at some point
during their undergraduate career.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science
and others have called for science literacy courses that are not simply
de-mathematized versions of the standard technical courses for science
majors but that instead approach science as a human endeavor within
its full cultural context. In line with such recommendations, Physics
and Human Affairs includes such societal issues as global warming,
technological risk, energy resources, and nuclear weapons, and devotes
more than 50% of its lectures to modern and contemporary physics. Scientific
methodology is a constant refrain. The course uses no algebra, but
includes "numeracy" skills such as graphs, percentages, probabilities,
estimates, powers of ten, and large and small numbers. Despite large
class sizes, the course makes extensive use of the "peer instruction" techniques
pioneered by Eric Mazur and others. Both courses are well received.
Faced with a choice between several introductory courses that satisfy
the science requirements for non-scientists, students enroll in physics
and astronomy at rates that exceed that of the other offerings (geology,
biology, and chemistry), so that physics and astronomy are always full
by an early date in the enrollment cycle.
These two large popular courses for non-scientists
give physics a good image on our campus, and make a substantial contribution
to the science education of Arkansas' general population. They make
it more likely that students from outside of physics will consider
majoring in physics. In fact, during the past few years we have recruited
several students from these two courses into our Bachelor of Arts program
in physics. These courses also contribute strongly to our "student-semester-hours
per faculty member," a significant statistic on our campus,
A physics degree path for non-physicists
Physics degrees shouldn't be only for physicists,
any more than history degrees are only for historians or English degrees
are only for writers. Our department believes that it would be healthy
if non-physicists had undergraduate degrees in physics. Thus, we have
initiated a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree for students desiring a physics
background as a basis for careers in law (e.g. patents, environmental
law), business, medicine, journalism (science reporting), music (acoustics),
K-9 teaching, or indeed any profession.
The BA program is more flexible and less technical
than traditional BS programs, allowing students time for outside electives
and professional requirements in other fields. It is algebra-based,
beginning with the "College Physics" course rather than the
calculus-based "University Physics" course, although some
BA students elect to take our calculus-based courses. The BA requires
24 hours of physics as compared with 40 for the BS, 4 math courses
including at least one calculus course, and 3 courses at the junior-senior
level in some non-physics "special emphasis area" in which
the student expects to be employed. Students take one semester of modern
physics beyond the two-semester introductory course, a seminar, and
11 credit hours of physics electives. Many students elect our two BA
courses "Physics in Perspective," presenting the human implications
of physics, and "Physics of Devices," applying physics to
significant technological devices. Other electives include three astronomy
courses, optics, and several self-paced electronics modules, or any
of our BS-oriented courses. The program is sufficiently flexible to
allow students to develop considerable expertise in an employment area
outside of physics, without amassing extra credit hours beyond the
number required for a Bachelor of Arts degree. In consultation with
other departments, we have worked out curricula for students headed
for graduate school or employment in business, medicine, law, journalism,
and education. For example, our recommendations for business-oriented
students include 9 courses that our university's Business College recommends
for admission to their Master of Business Administration program, allowing
our students to complete the MBA program in only one year. We have
a cooperative dual-degree program in journalism and physics, and we
hope in the future to set up such programs with other departments.
Because of its less technical orientation and greater flexibility,
the program draws many students who would otherwise have vigorously
avoided anything with the word "physics" in its title.
One boon from the successes of our BA and BS programs
is fuller physics classes. Our junior- and senior-level classes in
astronomy, mechanics, electricity and magnetism, and quantum mechanics,
have had two to four times as many students during the past four years
as compared with 1990-96.
One problem is that it is difficult to advertise the
BA program. Except for the small fraction of students who decided early
on a physics career, few undergraduates give the least thought to majoring
in physics. Good high school contacts do not help much, because the
students likely to be attracted to the BA program are probably not
enrolled in a high school physics course. Thus, this program has expanded
rather slowly during the past four years, now graduating about 5 students
per year-about half the graduation rate of our BS program. "Physics
literacy" courses for all high school students would be a great
boon for our BA program, and for the BS program as well. We believe
that the BA program has a much larger potential that can be attained
only after it has become better known throughout Arkansas.
Art Hobson is
Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
He is author of Physics: Concepts and Connections (Prentice Hall,
2nd edition 1999), a physics literacy textbook for non-science college
students. Take a look at Hobson's WEB PAGE
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