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What does Physics First mean to you? April 29, 2012

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Did you know that in today’s economy, where millions cannot find a job, there are hundreds of thousands of jobs for which employers cannot find qualified U.S. born workers?

What does physics education have to do with putting your child in position to be among those who can qualify for the jobs of tomorrow in advanced manufacturing and traditional STEM fields?

• Physics is a gateway course for post-secondary study in science, medicine, and engineering, as well as an essential component in the formation of students’ scientific literacy.
• Physics classes hone thinking skills.
• An understanding of physics leads to a better understanding of other science disciplines. Physics classes help polish the skills needed to score well on the SAT and ACT.
• College recruiters recognize the value of taking high school physics.
• College success for virtually all science, computing, engineering, and premedical majors depends in part on passing physics.
• The job market for people with skills in physics is strong.
• Knowledge of physics is helpful for understanding the arts, politics, history, and culture.

Currently only 25% of Black and Hispanic high school students take any course in physics. Thus many do not even get to the gateway. The availability of physics as a course for high school students is not equitably distributed throughout the U.S. While some schools provide physics for all who wish to take it, a more common scenario, particularly for urban schools, is limited availability. The existence of policies that restrict science opportunities for secondary students results in diminished outcomes in terms of scientific proficiency, and lack of diversity in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics professions.

Reforming the system and Physics First
In most high schools the science course sequence is chemistry first, biology second and physics last. This sequence was born many decades ago before people knew a lot of the fundamental scientific principles of chemistry and biology. We now understand that physics is at the foundational roots of all that we know and can learn about the other sciences. So it makes sense to first learn the fundamental concepts of physics before proceeding to learn chemistry, biology and Earth sciences. This is called logical development of scientific cognition, and it is imperative that in the 21st century that our education system catches up to this idea.

Physics First is the educational strategy that sequences high school science courses beginning with physics in the 9th or 10th grade, chemistry in 10th or 11th grade, culminating with biology and earth science in the 12th; while developing proficiency in mathematics and computing in lock-step over the entire 4 years. Schools that have adopted Physics First have shown much higher student appreciation for science, more science course taking in subsequent grades, and higher test scores. But also, when a school commits to Physics First, in many cases they are reforming the system from “physics not at all”. And that reform of providing a formal opportunity to learn physics allows students to pass through an important gateway to higher achievement and prosperity.

A first course in physics need not be overly saddled with advanced mathematics. The emphasis should be focused on conceptual understanding rather than mathematical manipulation. In fact conceptual understanding of physics need not wait until high school. Even middle school students can profit from a conceptual physics course. Conceptual understanding of physics taps into students’ natural curiosities of how and why the world the world works around them. That conceptual understanding, not its mathematical expression, is what will improve performance in later courses in other disciplines. As mathematical maturity is further developed, students can revisit the advanced mathematical expression of physics.

What can you do?
Every child deserves the opportunity to learn physics. This is a message you must make to your teachers, principals, and district administrators. Physics First works out very well for high school students. But learning physics does not have to wait until high school. With the availability of all kinds of smart phone apps, even middle grade students can do experiments in motion, sound and light, which are bedrock principles in physics. And in the primary grades, learning physics comes when teachers tap into young kids’ natural curiosity about how and why things work. The key to developing kids of today for jobs of the future is to foster curiosity, encourage discovery, and provide opportunities to learn concepts and principles.

National Alliance of Black School Educators Endorses Physics First March 16, 2012

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Position Statement of the National Alliance of Black School Educators
Approved by the Board of Directors, March 1, 2012

Physics is a gateway course for post-secondary study in science, medicine, and engineering, as well as an essential component in the formation of students’ scientific literacy. Physics classes hone thinking skills. An understanding of physics leads to a better understanding of other science disciplines. Physics classes help polish the skills needed to score well on the SAT and ACT. College recruiters recognize the value of taking high school physics. College success for virtually all science, computing, engineering, and premedical majors depends in part on passing physics. The job market for people with skills in physics is strong. Knowledge of physics is helpful for understanding the arts, politics, history, and culture.

Currently only 25% of Black and Hispanic high school students take any course in physics1. Thus many do not even get to the gateway. The availability of physics as a course for high school students is not equitably distributed throughout the United States. While some schools provide physics for all who wish to take it, a more common scenario, particularly for urban schools, is limited availability2. The existence of policies that restrict science opportunities for secondary students results in diminished outcomes in terms of scientific proficiency, and lack of diversity in the STEM professions.

In July 2011 the National Academy of Sciences released a framework for next generation of science standards. The framework consists of number of elements in three dimensions: (1) scientific and engineering practices, (2) crosscutting concepts, and (3) disciplinary core ideas in science. It describes how they should be developed across grades K-12, and it is designed so that students continually expand upon and improve their knowledge and abilities throughout their school years. To support learning, all three dimensions need to be integrated into standards, curricula, instruction, and assessment. The framework includes core ideas for the physical sciences, life sciences, and earth and space sciences since these are the disciplines typically included in science education in K-12 schools.

The idea of building up an integrated picture of science phenomena resonates very well with the principles of Physics First, the curricular strategy that sequences high school sciences courses beginning with physics in the 9th or 10th grade, chemistry in 10th or 11th grade, culminating with biology and earth science in the 12th; while developing proficiency in mathematics and computing in lock-step over the entire 4 years3. Physics First means more students will have the formal opportunity to learn physics and thus pass through the gateway to higher achievement and prosperity.

A first course in physics need not be overly saddled with advanced mathematics. The emphasis should be focused on conceptual understanding rather than mathematical manipulation. In fact conceptual understanding of physics need not wait until high school. Even middle school students can profit from a conceptual physics course. Conceptual understanding of physics taps into students’ natural curiosities of how and why the world the world works around them. That conceptual understanding, not its mathematical expression, is what will improve performance in later courses in other disciplines. As mathematical maturity is further developed, students can revisit the advanced mathematical expression of physics.

Given all the positive benefits, it is imperative that all students have the opportunity to formally learn physics in their secondary school settings. The National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE) therefore resolves:

• That all students should be afforded the opportunity to formally learn physics in their secondary school, starting no later than in the middle grades
• That Physics First, as a curricular strategy, should be implemented in all high schools
• That all NABSE members, especially those charged with STEM teaching, apprise themselves of all the issues surrounding Physics First and work collaboratively to build policy, curricula and lesson plans that will well-position our students for the 21st century.
• That NABSE will work with all our partners and fellow stakeholders to offer workshops, in-service training and in-service support that will help teachers at all stages of their careers develop, implement and teach in Physics First sequences effectively.

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1. Compared to 41% of White students and 52% of Asian students. Source: Susan White & Casey Langer Tesfaye, Under-Represented Minorities in High School Physics: Results from the 2008-09 Nationwide Survey of High School Physics Teachers, American Institute of Physics, March 2011
2. Angela M. Kelly, Keith Sheppard, Secondary school physics availability in an urban setting: Issues related to academic achievement and course offerings, American Journal of Physics, October 2009, Volume 77, Issue 10, pp. 902
3. American Association of Physics Teachers [AAPT]. Statement on Physics First. Retrieved from http://www.aapt.org/Resources/policy/physicsfirst.cfm, 2002

Morgan State University Student Spends Summer at CERN July 24, 2011

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Eric Michael Seabron, a junior physics major and Morgan honor student with a 3.66 grade point average was selected to join an exclusive 18-member U.S. physics team for a 10-week summer internship at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva, Switzerland. 
 
“This internship is one of the most competitive internships an undergraduate student of physics can compete for in the United States.  Mr. Seabron will benefit from this experience by expanding both his knowledge of physics and participating in the greatest scientific experiment ever proposed, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Participation in this internship increases his visibility as a up-and-coming young physicist, and his opportunities for getting into a Tier-1 physics graduate program with schools like Michigan, Harvard, Stanford and Princeton to name a few,” says Dr. Keith Jackson, chair of Morgan’s physics department.

Mr. Seabron is a member of the University of Michigan’s ATLAS team sponsored by a National Science Foundation research grant for undergraduates to work on a valuable piece of equipment (Large Hadron Collider) on the ATLAS experiment. ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS) is one of the six particle detector experiments constructed at the LHC. He and other student colleagues will assist in the commissioning of ATLAS EE detectors, analyze event data to create R-T curves and Muon Spectrometer graphs.

Since 2009, more than 2900 scientists and engineers from 172 institutions in 37 countries have worked on the ATLAS experiment. 

The ATLAS experiment’s primary objective is to detect particles created after high-energy proton on proton collisions.  ATLAS will allow us to learn about the basic forces that have shaped our Universe since the beginning of time (if time has a beginning) and that will determine its fate. Research at ATLAS will provide answers to some of the most basic questions in physics such as the origin of mass, proof of existence of multiple dimensions, unification of fundamental forces, and evidence for dark matter candidates in the Universe. ATLAS brings experimental physics into new territory. Most exciting is the completely unknown surprise – new processes and particles that would change our understanding of energy and matter.
 

“Students who are successful strive to do more than meet the minimum level of academic performance. If they take this attitude toward their undergraduate education they will find a plethora of new experiences, challenges and opportunities waiting for them, like Mr. Seabron,” says Dr. Jackson.  

 

Eric is standing holding ladder with Michigan teammate Kareem Hegazy (on ladder) in front of 20 ft. battery cells.

NSBP and sister societies respond to National Science Board regarding broader impacts criteria July 20, 2011

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Merit Review Task Force
National Science Board
Room: 1225N
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, Virginia 22230, USA

Dear Merit Review Task Force,

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed revised text for the Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts evaluation criteria.

Members of the National Technical Association and other minority professional organizations are very concerned about the potential negative impact of the proposed changes to the Merit Review Criteria. We are particularly, concerned about the reduced visibility to the importance of STEM diversification.

Firstly, the proposed changes to the broader impacts text can lead one to infer that diversity is an option and not required since one of the national goals addresses it explicitly. It appears to allow PIs to choose other goals and be evaluated without addressing diversity. Diversity appears to become an option rather than central to all programs and projects and activities, as stated in the existing criteria.

Secondly, utilizing the broad base national goals as the core principles makes it very difficult to develop a clear framework to benchmark or measure the creativity, educational impacts and potential benefits to society of the programs, projects, reviewed. Each national goal embodies a multiplicity of challenges that are interrelated and dependent on other goals. Several goals address education, while others address workforce which are essential to the development of global competitiveness, yet another goal. Measuring impact at the goal level can become problematic. It is easier to identify underlying issues/causes that should be addressed to advance national goal(s) rather than focus on the goals themselves.

We recommend that NSF make it clear that its commitment to diversity is unchanged and indicate how diversity will be factored into the evaluation of all programs, projects and activities regardless of which national goals are addressed.

To advance the frontier of knowledge and achieve global competitiveness, a well trained American born workforce is imperative. Given the projected population demographics, the eligible workforce will shift more to people of color who are underrepresented in STEM. It is more critical than ever that NSF support programs that address workforce development and STEM education improvements to ensure America realizes its STEM related national goals. Whereas, linking programs to national goals is important, it is crucial to first define the national problems that need to be resolved to realize national goals and support research/models that resolve these issues.

Based on these facts, we urge the Merit Review Task Force to focus on criteria changes that identify categories of problem/ issues it will support to advance national goals and at the same time support its commitment to diversity.

Sincerely,

National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers
National Society of Black Physicists
National Technical Association

Effect of STEM pipeline leakage March 9, 2010

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A new study reported in the 30 October issue of Science indicates that the United States risks losing its economic competitiveness because of a lack of social and economic incentives to pursue careers in science and technology. The percentage of students enrolled in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics dropped only slightly from 1972 to 2000, the percentage of these STEM graduates who were working in STEM occupations rose slightly, but the percentage of top students plunged 14%. Likewise the share of the top quintile still holding STEM jobs 10 years out of college dipped, these graduates being drawn into careers in management and finance.