Preparing for Paperless Pedagogy

coordinated by

Bob Fuller, Vicki Plano Clark, Chris Moore, and Mark Plano Clark
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Friday, May 24, 1996
9:30 am to noon
Room 318, Ferguson Hall

Abstract:

Modern technology makes a paperless society possible, with nonlinear access to large amounts of information and can enable students to learn from many locations. The workshop will begin with a discussion of learning and what will be required to enable learning to occur without using paper.

The discussion will be followed by interactive lessons that will use an electronic database, analog video, digital video, and use of a local area network to share assignments, student-teacher and student-student interactions, and commentary.

The workshop will conclude with a discussion of ways in which technology can impact our teaching.

Concluding Comments:

The possibility of teaching physics without using paper opens up a variety of issues that we have not seriously considered previously. From the beginning of physics we have had paper as a primary instructional instrument. Most of us have not thought about the positive and negative features of printed materials to help people learn physics.

As we confront this new opportunity, we are called to re-examine our beliefs about what it means to learn physics, how students can demonstrate they have learned physics, what are the advantages and disadvantages of relying on textbooks for teaching physics, and what will be need in terms of hardware and software to be able to teach physics without using paper.

Our UNL workshop was only the beginning of the journey to find out how to teach physics in a completely electronic environment. We are looking forward to this challenge and invite you to contribute to our understanding by sending us helpful information via e-mail to rpeg@unlinfo.unl.edu.

Thanks for your interest in our work.

1. Charles Ansorge (Health and Human Performance, UNL)

2. Dave Brooks (Curriculum and Instruction, UNL)

3. Joanna Bush (Chemistry, UNL)

4. Garry Duncan (Biology, NWU)

5. Loretta Fairchild (Economics, NWU)

6. Bob Fuller (Physics, UNL)*

7. Bob Jackson (Speech)

8. David Joseph (Physics, UNL)

9. Gail Latta (Psychology and Sociology Librarian, UNL)

10. Michelle Mason (Economics, UNL)

11. Mary McNamee

12. Chris Moore (Physics, UNL)*

13. Mark Plano Clark (Physics, UNL)*

14. Vicki Plano Clark (Physics, UNL)*

15. Alan Runge (Curriculum and Instruction, UNL)

16. Bruce Sandhorst (Instructional Technology - CRC, UNL)

17. Anna Shavers (Law, UNL)

18. William M. Wehrbein (Physics, NWU)

19. Chris Wentworth (Physics, Doane College)

20. Myra Wilhite (Teaching and Learning Center, UNL)

21. Steve Willborn (Law, UNL)

22. Del Wright (Teaching and Learning Center, UNL)

Electronic Discussions of the limits and advantages of paper and technology for teaching

1) Make a list of what students must do to demonstrate to you that they know the subject you are trying to teach them.

Enter your items by REPLYING to this message. Once entered, please SEND them to the other participants in the room.

1. explain concepts to peers and instructor, both orally and in writing
2. apply concepts in various situations
3. demonstrate skills solving a related problem

Become successful graduates thirty years from now.
Explain concepts in their own words.
Apply content to problem-solving.
Know how to find information on their topic.
Reasoning from principles to applications.

Demonstration of a persons:
* Knowledge
* Comprehension
* Analysis
* Application
* Synthesis
* Evaluation

1. Suggesting uses (transfer knowledge.)
2. Score well on objective assessment.
3. Understand discipline-specific terminology (language). Show that they can use that new "language" appropriately.
4. Properly respond to evaluative, interpretive, application-oriented questions.

I would like students to be able to work problems involving novel situations. When a student gets a problem they have not seen before they will be able to develop and apply a strategy for solving the problem. The student should be able to explain in

their own words their strategy and why it will work.

Response:

1) Demonstrate knowledge through answering questions (quizzes).
2) Elaborate through speech, describe what they know.
3) Monitor (encourage) their questions during discussion periods to note the links and connection they are making.
4) Show by doing: give speech, group role playing, deliver a demonstration in physics, etc.
5) Active out of class discussions on topic.

We have found that all five of the responses developed the use of language tools to explain what they know!

2) Make a list of the ways that using paper enables your students to demonstrate that they know the subject you are trying to teach them.

List things about using paper that may be seen as holding your students back from learning your subject.

Enter your items by REPLYING to this message. Once entered, please SEND them to the other participants in the room.

Printed material is a constant medium, in that it directed to a general audience and viewpoint.

Having the students write out responses (homework) forces them to commit to what they believe they know and understand.

Following from the discussion on the first question, this is still a form of communication, which is one of the defining ways we judge understanding.

The formal and committal nature inhibits the free expression of the students' understanding. There are often difficutlies with language among novice learners.

Textbook-based information allows students to take "knowledge" with them... away from the classroom. It allows students to assimilate information at their own rate.

Most students are visual learners.

Paper serves as a written record of students' understanding. It serves as a "discovery" tool to knowledge. It allows students to focus on a particular concept -- helps them visualize problems.

Negative:
Textbooks are linear and static.
Paper is heavy and is a scarce good.
Many students feel unmotivated to read the textbooks.
Information becomes dated.

Enables demonstration of knowledge by

1. Paper can be used to practice and process information; explore alternative solutions;
2. The above done on paper is a permanent record of thinking which can be referred to in the future.
3. Paper provides a way to demonstrate proficiency to a teacher in an evaluative or
testing situation.

Advantages:
1. Paper provides a permanent record.
2. Transportable.
3. Enables sharing of ideas.
4. Requires no expensive infrastructure to use.
5. Everyone has access to it inexpensively.

Ways paper holds students back:
1. limits expression of knowledge to words and simple diagrams.
2. paper must be physically present to use.
3. books tend to be one dimensional or linear in their structure.
4. they can be heavy.
5. They can be intimidating if large (have you ever taken organic chemistry?).
6. Paper does not engage the user in an interactive way.

Positive:
1. provides structure and organization
2. provides for readily accessible feedback
3. demonstrate writing skills
4. preserved over time
5. cost effective??

Negative
1. Students experience little opportunity to demonstrate comprehension orally or in practice
2. Lack of hands-on exposure
3. book: limited acessibility for lots of students
4. Cost effective??

Advanatages of Print on Paper
* Primary resources indexed only on paper sources.
* Printing on paper is something you can physically touch.
* Easier on your eyes to read print on paper.
* Easier to take print on paper to the beach, mountains, river bank.
* Easier security concern on exams. Don't have access to data banks.

Limitations of Print on Paper
* Paper doesn't allow access to unedited materials.
* Paper doesn't allow interactive programs to be accessed.
* More difficult to share information and ideas with others...especially if they are not in the same building, state, country, etc.
* Easier to annotate the book -- highlighting, pop-up screens, etc.
* Not limited to one mode of communication (can use video and audio clips)

A. Transmit large amount of info in way can be referred back to ....
Established means of communication(graphs, diagrams, icons, pictures, as well as words)...take to bed.

B. Must be physically distributed....financial limitations, access limitations.
Document frozen in form for certain amount of time(till it falls apart)..difficult to maintain currency...Linear ...800 page text can be intemidating.

3) List what you will need to be able to have your students learn your subject completely without paper.

Enter your items by REPLYING to this message. Once entered, please SEND them to the other participants in the room.

All participants (students and instructors) need full and equal access to technology and other participants' addresses. All participants must understand how to use the technology and be comfortable using it so that it doesn't interfere with the learning process.

Need access to large electronic database of reference material and archived writings from our learning unit (email group, class, etc).

Full committment.
1. willingness to change teaching techniques
2. sophisticated equipment
3. networking
4. students' willingness to learn electroncially
5. training support
6. knowledge about paperless information sources
7. knowledge about students' learning styles
8. colleagues and institutional acceptance and support
9. resolution of security issues
10. development of paperless evaluation strategies

* Dependable computer system. A network that never goes down.
* A literacy and comfort level amongst the students with the technology.
* A seamless way of sharing information amongst people. Ability to share information across various computer platforms.
* Availability of teaching materials in electronic format.
* Easy way to communicate special characters like Greek characters, mathematical symbols and operations, formulas, foreign language accents.....
* Security concerns fully understood and under control.
* Adequate access to technical support.
* Physical ways of accessing and entering information that require a variety of movements and body parts so you clicking finger does not wear out.

A short course by Bob Fuller

A means of communicating words, images, icons, etc. that at least have a full subset of the paper equivalents. [Convenient. Inexpensive. Locus of costs (who pays).]

Informational literacy (knowing conventions of how to find, evaluate, organize).

All participants (students and instructors) need full and equal access to technology and other participants' addresses. All participants must understand how to use the technology and be comfortable using it so that it doesn't interfere with the learning process.

We need technology literacy and acceptance.

Need access to large electronic database of reference material and archived writings from our learning unit (email group, class, etc).

Full commitment to the technology use. Full immersion.

Instructor must be well versed and competant in the subject area.

May be more time consuming to teach in a paperless manner.

We can use more material without the burdon of large volumes of printed material.

1. Provide students with access to technology. Provide hardware and software.
2. Provide instruction on use of applications and hardware.
3. Have students interact with instructor and classmates. Help students know how to "behave" in the new environment.
4. Help students make a transition to becoming an independent and active learner.
5. Convert existing educational materials *and pedagogy* to electronic form. Provide resources for training of faculty and instructional staff.
6. Provide immediate feedback to students.

1. All students must have easy access to a computer and software (and modem or network?).
2. The instructor must have a comfort level and proficiency with the technology.
3. A support structure must exist for the information technology.
4. We need content in electronic form (legal also).
5. We need appropriate processing software for enabling and managing interactivity (student-teacher, student-student, student-content).
6. We need an easy way for faculty to develop and modify electronic media (production support).
7. Students must have some proficiency with the technology.
8. We need appropriate record keeping, security, validation procedures.

Introduction to the Physics InfoMall CD-ROM

The Physics InfoMall CD-ROM

This electronic database was originally developed as a resource for high school physics teachers, but it has been shown that its uses go far beyond simply a teacher's reference. Containing nineteen complete physics textbooks covering physics content through calculus-based modern physics, over 3,000 articles from journals such as Physics Today and the American Journal of Physics, and books such as Schaum's 3000 Solved Problems in Physics and Women in Science: Antiquity through the Nineteenth Century, the Physics InfoMall is a vast physics database that can be used appropriately at the introductory university level. During the 1995-1996 academic year, Dr. Fuller served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the United States Air Force Academy where he was asked to develop and teach an experimental calculus-based physics course which used the Physics InfoMall as the only text reference purchased by the students.

See the InfoMall web page for more information.

Notions About Motion

Physics InfoMall Task No. 1

Outside of Class Period Physics Problem -1 [OCP3-1]

Assume you are a defensive halfback on the outstanding UNL football team. When wearing your football uniform and properly motivated, you can run a 40 yard dash in about 5 seconds. While on defense, standing on your own 40-yard line, the opposing fullback catches a pass 10 yards behind you, and you chase him as he runs for the end zone.

How long does it take you to catch him and is he able to score a touchdown?

(Hint: the fullback is slower than you. He can only run as fast as the average decimal value of the last four digits of the social security numbers of the members of your team. For example, if the average of the last four digits of the social security numbers of the members of your present group is 4139, then the fullback would be able to run 0.4139 as fast as you can.)

a) Enter your solution here:
b) Enter the notions about motion we used to solve this problem:
c) Now to complete this assignment find another problem on the InfoMall that requires the use of the same physics concepts, and work out the solution to that problem.
d) Once you are finished, save this document. Then submit it to the instructor by dragging the file's icon into the Workshop Folder.

Sample Response (Group - Newton2)

a) Enter your solution here: 2.06 seconds
b) Enter the notions about motion we used to solve this problem:

We tried to determine the difference in relative speed between the two. Then we multiplied the difference in relative speed by the distance between us.

And, by the way, if we're a defensive back and running a 5 second forty-yard dash, the team's in deep trouble!

Notions About Motion

Physics InfoMall Task No. 2

An Historical Perspective:

The current understanding of motion has evolved over many, many years of the study of motion by a variety of people. Some times the changes in human understanding of motion seem subtle and minor. Other times major shifts in paradigms have occurred.

We would like for you to be able to use the InfoMall CD-ROM to get a flavor for how perspectives change in time. Rather than doing this with "notions about motion," we have selected a topic that seems to have shown more rapid changes in the past 50 years or so.

Please do the following task in your team and copy your results in a file to the Workshop Folder.

Today there is concern among physicists in the USA due to the relatively small number of women who pursue studies and/or a career in physics.

Your task is to use the Physics InfoMall to study this topic. You will compare the points of view expressed in an article that was published in the 1930s with more current articles about this topic.

A) The earliest article related to this topic that appears in the Physics InfoMall is an article published by John B. Daffin in the American Journal of Physics in 1937. He cites two earlier articles, one by Knowlton and one by Morrison. Find the Daffin article and in a file, list the reasons he gives for the small number of women in physics.

B) Find one much more recent article (30 years or more newer than the Daffin article, i.e. published since 1967) and summarize its point of view. Give the complete citation for the article. Hint: In the search program you can use the "wildcard" symbol, *. If you type 199* you find all articles published in the 1990s or with 199something in the article.

C) Compare and contrast the earlier article (1937) with the more recent article. How are they the same? How are they different? Write your own summary paragraph, on the basis of these two articles, giving your conclusions about the role of women in physics in the USA Be sure to support your conclusions with evidence from your InfoMall sources.

Sample Responses

Meitner 1 Group

Innate differences were not discussed in the Daffin article.

"American Journal of Physics: Guest Comment: Are there innate cognitive gender differences? Some comments on the evidence in response to a letter from M. Levin, ArticleCitation: M. B. Ruskai, "Guest Comment: Are there innate cognitive gender differences? Some comments on the evidence in response to a letter from M. Levin," American Journal of Physics, 59, 11-14, (1991). Permission granted by the editor, R. Romer and the author.Keywords: General Physics; Gender IssuesIn a recent letter, Professor Michael Levin1 states that "It is not disputed that males outperform females on tests of mathematical ability" [my emphasis] and further attributes this phenomenon to innate (i.e., biological) gender differences. In fact, the only element in his assertions that is not strongly disputed is that in North America the average of boys' scores exceeds that of girls' on the math SAT and similar standardized tests, such as the ACT. However, as discussed below, this disparity does not necessarily persist when other types of math tests are used, nor is it uniform across cultures. Moreover, no less prestigious a scientific body than the British Royal Society2 (hardly a bastion of radical feminist theory) concluded after thorough study that there wasno convincing evidence for innate gender difference in mathematical ability."

Active discrimination was not mentioned by Daffin. He focussed on self-selection issues.

Newton 2 Group

A) The earliest article related to this topic that appears in the Physics InfoMall is an article published by John B. Daffin in the American Journal of Physics in 1937. He cites two earlier articles, one by Knowlton and one by Morrison. Find the Daffin article and in a file, list the reasons he gives for the small number of women in physics.

*******************************

Citation: John B. Daffin, "Why the woman student does not elect physics,"American Journal of Physics 05, 82-85 (1937). Permission granted by the editor, R. Romer.

It is evident that the interest of women students in the subject matter of physics is far less than that in chemistry and biology. There are definite causes which bring about this condition. Three have been suggested to Knowlton See footnote 1 by nonscience students:"Chemistry and biology have more obvious applications to life, to the planning of menus and the care of babies."Chemistry in particular is more colorful. The laboratory work is more attractive because something unexpected is likely to happen at any instant."Most students have a greater feeling that they have understood and, to some degree, mastered the material and theories of chemistry and biology than is true in physics. In chemistry everything centers about the atomic theory, and the same procedures repeat themselves until they become familiar, whereas in physics one is continually going to something new that seems to bear little relationship to what has gone before. There is less feeling of accomplishment."

Adding to these possible causes, I suggest four others. The first is the use of mathematics. There is no getting around the fact that physics makes use of more mathematics than chemistry, while biology may be said to use none at all in the first general course. As much as we dislike to admit it, this is one reason for the election of biology in preference to either chemistry or physics.A second cause has been suggested to me by a group of secondary school teachers. These teachers claim that the majority of the smaller secondary schools not offering physics do not offer the science because of the initial cost of equipment. There is a rather large number of these schools. If this is generally true, then a large number of students enter college without having had the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the subject matter of physics. This, however, may be an advantage to college physics teachers, if the next cause we shall consider can be justified. This cause has been suggested by industrial friends who have become so interested in the idea that they are supplying the necessary funds for a survey which will determine the correctness or incorrectness of the suggestion; namely, a practice in secondary schools of assigning the job of physics instruction to teachers who have not prepared themselves to teach physics.

While I have no facts to substantiate the statement, I venture the opinion that in the past a large percentage of our high school classes in physics have been taught by such teachers. If the result of the survey should show that this claim is justified, then it would appear that a positive dislike for physics may be acquired by the students before they enter college. There are those who point to the fact that since more women do not go beyond the first course in college physics there must be something wrong with the college physics teacher or the method of teaching physics to college women. This no doubt is true.Another cause for the small enrolment in physics has come from conclusions reached after a number of years spent in an attempt to teach physics to women college students; it has to do with the content and presentation of the first course in physics. I am not advocating an "easy" course, but an interesting one. I do not suspect that any of us would advocate that the subject matter and the method of approach be changed so as to make a so-called "crip" course. The training and the environment of women are usually such that they do not become mechanically minded, and consequently do not find machines and physical principles easy to understand. They are interested, however, in knowing why things work as they do. We will certainly agree that women enjoy, perhaps to a greater degree then men, the comforts and pleasures that come through the advancement of physics. Surely women are as capableas men of deriving the same cultural value from physics as from any other non-science or arts subjects.Some teachers may be inclined to agree with a university professor who has written me that the problem of women in physics has always been and will probably always be as it is, and there is nothing much that we can do about it. I disagree with my colleague. Physics should be made so attractive to women, or to any other students, as to cause them to recognize the same enjoyment from it as from any other subject taught in the schools and colleges. While it is true that at present there are not many opportunities in industry or in colleges for the employment of women who have majored in physics, it is my opinion that women should take physics as a part of their cultural program, since we are living in a scientific civilization and so much of our equipment and surroundings of life are based upon physical principles. The paucity of outstanding women physicists should further justify our claim that women should study physics. Why should we not have more women physicists?That women are not electing courses in high school and college physics is a fact. As to the causes, we may be in error. We who teach women are deeply interested in ascertaining the causes. In Virginia we plan to consider the problem at a conference of representative teachers of college physics to women, to be held in the spring in conjunction with the Virginia Academy of Science meeting. Ten ofthe twelve college departments invited to participate in the conference have approved of the plan and will send representatives.In considering further the status of the curriculums for arts students, particularly women, let us examine the opinions of others who are qualified to speak. The director of an organization interested in the placement of college trained women in industry writes:"Thank you ...for ... the material on the registration of women in physics classes. This is a subject in which [we have] been most definitely interested for some time. We have felt a very real need for a comprehensive study of opportunities for women in physics and chemistry. There are, for example, certain developments in the equipment field which would seem to indicate opportunities for women trained in home economics and well equipped in physics."... Our interest in this problem ... has been growing as were are working toward the completion of a study of business openings for home economics trained women in industry. There seem to be definite possibilities for the employment of such women in work connected with lighting and with household equipment. However, very few women with home economics education have the requisite training in physics so that they have not been able to obtain the really fundamental jobs in this field. The solution of the problem would seem to require the cooperation of persons interested in occupations, teachers of physics and teachers of home economics."

*****************************************

B) Find one much more recent article (30 years or more newer than the Daffin article, i.e. published since 1967) and summarize its point of view. Give the complete citation for the article. Hint: In the search program you can use the "wildcard" symbol, *. If you type 199* you find all articles published in the 1990s or with 199something in the article.

*****************

Citation: Mary Fehrs and Roman Czujko, "Women in physics: reversing the exclusion," Physics Today 45 (08), 33-40 (1992). Permission granted by the American Institute of Physics and the authors.

Numerous theories exist to explain the poor representation of women in physics, but almost all derive from one basic premise: The physics community and society at large exclude women from physics--both deliberately and unintentionally. This exclusion takes many forms, from subtle but constant differential behavior toward women to overt sexual harassment. Reversing the exclusion is what is needed to bring more women into the field.

The treatment of women based on sexual stereotypes--on what are deemed appropriate female roles and behavior--is pervasive in the physics community. Stereotyping is practiced by faculty, fellow students, teaching assistants, department secretaries, families and the mass media. In subtle and unsubtle ways, the idea is constantly reinforced that physics is not a fit intellectual endeavor for women. A woman who shows an interest in theoretical physics may be reminded that nearly all the past and present great physicists are men and that she probably lacks the mathematical aptitude necessary to do theoretical physics. But she may also be told she won't cut it as an experimenter, because everyone knows women are inept when it comes to equipment, and who could trust her in the machine shop? The day in-day out flow of such comments and attitudes is wearying and places an extra burden on women physics students. In a collegial enterprise, the net effect is to devalue women as colleagues.In this environment, women are not taken seriously as physicists, and as a result they become academically invisible. They aren't called on in class; they are excluded from discussions or study groups; they are not encouraged to consider demanding careers or programs in physics. Academic invisibility leads women physics students to doubt their own abilities and talents.

C) Compare and contrast the earlier article (1937) with the more recent article. How are they the same? How are they different? Write your own summary paragraph, on the basis of these two articles, giving your conclusions about the role of women in physics in the USA Be sure to support your conclusions with evidence from your InfoMall sources.

In the 1937 Daffin article the focus was on how Physics is not attractive to women, for example, he says that women are interested in home economics and cooking.

In the 1990 article the focus was on not only women's interest in physics but also on physic's insiders excluding women from the study of physics and structural problems in attracting women.

For example, the 1990 article talks about the extent to which physics departments do not accommodate dual career couples.

Dresselhaus 3 Group

A) The earliest article related to this topic that appears in the Physics InfoMall is an article published by John B. Daffin in the American Journal of Physics in 1937. He cites two earlier articles, one by Knowlton and one by Morrison. Find the Daffin article and in a file, list the reasons he gives for the small number of women in physics.

"Chemistry and biology have more obvious applications to life, to the planning of menus and the care of babies.

"Chemistry in particular is more colorful. The laboratory work is more attractive because something unexpected is likely to happen at any instant.

"Most students have a greater feeling that they have understood and, to some degree, mastered the material and theories of chemistry and biology than is true in physics. In chemistry everything centers about the atomic theory, and the same procedures repeat themselves until they become familiar, whereas in physics one is continually going to something new that seems to bear littlerelationship to what has gone before. There is less feeling of accomplishment."

Adding to these possible causes, I suggest four others.

The first is the use of mathematics.

The majority of the smaller secondary schools not offering physics do not offer the science because of the initial cost of equipment. There is a rather large number of these schools. If this is generally true, then a large number of students enter college without having had the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the subject matter of physics.

This cause has been suggested namely, a practice in secondary schools of assigning the job of physics instruction to teachers who have not prepared themselves to teach physics.

Another cause for the small enrolment in physics has come from conclusions reached after a number of years spent in an attempt to teach physics to women college students; it has to do with the content and presentation of the first course in physics. The training and the environment of women are usually such that they do not become mechanically minded, and consequently do not find machines and physical principles easy to understand. They are interested, however, in knowing why things work as they do. We will certainly agree that women enjoy, perhaps to a greater degree then men, the comforts and pleasures that come through the advancement of physics. Surely women are as capable as men of deriving the same cultural value from physics as from any other non-science or arts subjects.

B) Find one much more recent article (30 years or more newer than the Daffin article, i.e. published since 1967) and summarize its point of view. Give the complete citation for the article. Hint: In the search program you can use the "wildcard" symbol, *. If you type 199* you find all articles published in the 1990s or with 199something in the article.

Physics Today: Women in physics: reversing the exclusion: ArticleCitation: Mary Fehrs and Roman Czujko, "Women in physics: reversing the exclusion," Physics Today 45 (08), 33-40 (1992). Permission granted by the American Institute of Physics and the authors.Æ 1992 by the American Institute of Physics; reprinted with permission.Keywords: Exposition; Gender Issues; Science And Society; Careers; Recruitment And Retention; General Physics

Numerous theories exist to explain the poor representation of women in physics, but almost all derive from one basic premise: The physics community and society at large exclude women from physics--both deliberately and unintentionally. This exclusion takes many forms, from subtle but constant differential behavior toward women to overt sexual harassment. Reversing the exclusion is what is needed to bring more women into the field.

C) Compare and contrast the earlier article (1937) with the more recent article. How are they the same? How are they different? Write your own summary paragraph, on the basis of these two articles, giving your conclusions about the role of women in physics in the USA Be sure to support your conclusions with evidence from your InfoMall sources.

Ada Byron 4 Group

Daffin's reasons for low enrollment in physics by women:

1. Physics uses mathematics to a greater extent than biology or chemistry.

2. Many secondary schools do not offer physics because of equipment costs.

3. Unqualified physics teachers in secondary schools.

4. The first physics course is often not interesting to women.

A more recent article:

Citation: Mary Fehrs and Roman Czujko, "Women in physics: reversing the exclusion," Physics Today 45 (08), 33-40 (1992). Permission granted by the American Institute of Physics and the authors.

Comparison-Contrast:

The two articles are looking at women's participation at two different levels. The

Daffin article looks at women in the introductory course. The second article looks at women in the profession.

The Daffin article looked at why women made certain choices. The second article focused on exclusionary behavior by physicists towards women.

Both articles document low involvement of women in physics despite a large number

of years separating them.

Kepler 5 Group

A) The earliest article related to this topic that appears in the Physics InfoMall is an article published by John B. Daffin in the American Journal of Physics in 1937. He cites two earlier articles, one by Knowlton and one by Morrison. Find the Daffin article and in a file, list the reasons he gives for the small number of women in physics.

The author indicates that other science courses compete with physics and that alternative courses are preferred by women.

"Chemistry and biology have more obvious applications to life, to the planning of menus and the care of babies."...Chemistry is more colorful.... Biology and chemistry are more concrete, more applicable to the real world. Physics relies heavily on mathematics. Smaller secondary schools not offering physics...(due to) initial cost of equipment...Positive dislike for physics may be acquired (in poorly instructed high school courses.)... The training and the environment of women are usually such that they do not become mechanically minded, and consequently do not find machines and physical principles easy to understand.

B) Find one much more recent article (30 years or more newer than the Daffin article, i.e. published since 1967) and summarize its point of view. Give the complete citation for the article. Hint: In the search program you can use the "wildcard" symbol, *. If you type 199* you find all articles published in the 1990s or with 199something in the article.

Citation: Janice Button-Shafer, "Guest Comment: Why so few women?," American Journal of Physics 58, 13-14 (1990). Permission granted by the editor, R. Romer.

Girls fear being labelled a nerd, they lack encouragement from their instructors and their parents. They lose their self-esteem and suffer harassment. They are not welcome in the physics community. Society doesn't encourage girls to explore and to take risks, which is necessary to be successful physicists and engineers.

C) Compare and contrast the earlier article (1937) with the more recent article. How are they the same? How are they different? Write your own summary paragraph, on the basis of these two articles, giving your conclusions about the role of women in physics in the USA Be sure to support your conclusions with evidence from your InfoMall sources.

This author offers an alternative view about why so few women choose physics. The Daffin article cites academic constraints and biological constraints, while Button-Shafer focusses on sociological constraints. Women, according to Button-Shafer, don't go into physics because it's not widely accepted.

Goeppert Mayer 6 Group

A) The earliest article related to this topic that appears in the Physics InfoMall is an article published by John B. Daffin in the American Journal of Physics in 1937. He cites two earlier articles, one by Knowlton and one by Morrison. Find the Daffin article and in a file, list the reasons he gives for the small number of women in physics.

Citation: John B. Daffin, "Why the woman student does not elect physics,"American Journal of Physics 05, 82-85 (1937)

Three have been suggested to Knowlton See footnote 1 by nonscience students:

"Chemistry and biology have more obvious applications to life, to the planning of menus and the care of babies.

"Chemistry in particular is more colorful. The laboratory work is more attractive because something unexpected is likely to happen at any instant."

"Most students have a greater feeling that they have understood and, to some degree, mastered the material and theories of chemistry and biology than is true in physics." "There is less feeling of accomplishment."

Daffin added these four reasons:

The first is the use of mathematics. There is no getting around the fact that physics makes use of more mathematics than chemistry, while biology may be said to use none at all in the first general course

The second cause...majority of the smaller secondary schools not offering physics do not offer the science because of the initial cost of equipment...

This cause has been suggested...namely, a practice in secondary schools of assigning the job of physics instruction to teachers who have not prepared themselves to teach physics.

Another cause for the small enrolment in physics has come from...content and presentation of the first course in physics. I am not advocating an "easy" course, but an interesting one...

The training and the environment of women are usually such that they do not become mechanically minded, and consequently do not find machines and physical principles easy to understand.

B) Find one much more recent article (30 years or more newer than the Daffin article, i.e. published since 1967) and summarize its point of view. Give the complete citation for the article.

Citation: Janice Button-Shafer, "Guest Comment: Why so few women?," American Journal of Physics 58, 13-14 (1990).

If "math anxiety" is not hindering women from undergraduate mathematics studies, it seems unlikely that it is the primary factor in keeping women out of physics.

... that a major problem for a young girl is her fear of being considered a "nerd" or at least somewhat eccentric, if she shows interest in physics ideas.

ad infinitum...

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