Monthly Archives: March 2018

Last Thursday, a high-powered delegation from Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) visited the FSU Physics Department to recruit teachers from among math and science undergraduate and graduate students. The delegation included the Superintendent’s Chief of Staff, Dr. Bridget Williams, the … Continue reading →

Update (Wednesday evening):  The Chair of the UF Physics Department responded with a letter to the editor in the Democrat. FSU provides state-of-the-art studio physics learning environments, while UF features its online science courses.  Which would be best for your kid? I … Continue reading →

Dr. Richard Olexa responded via twitter to my Orlando Sentinel op-ed on the perils of the State University System’s emphasis on online instruction.  He said this:  “As an alum and someone who took Physics at FSU, I say this very … Continue reading →

The Sentinel published my op-ed comparing online and studio-style classes in this morning’s edition. The bottom line?  Online college science courses that isolate students make it harder for women and students from disadvantaged backgrounds to become engineers and scientists. But that’s what the … Continue reading →

The Florida Department Education report on 2017 FTCE results was posted earlier this week, and the 2014-2017 results are taken from that report.  The 2013 results (which are not included in the new report) are taken from last year’s report, … Continue reading →

If you are a professor in a physics department (or chemistry, computer science or math department) that has a wonderful working relationship with your university’s College of Education so that your students find the idea of becoming teachers attractive and … Continue reading →

Here is the Executive Summary of the report “Recruiting Teachers in High-needs STEM Fields: A Survey of Current Majors and Recent STEM Graduates”, which was released by the American Physical Society’s Panel on Public Affairs in January, 2017.  The Executive … Continue reading →

Florida was a weak state for high school physics even before enrollments declined 8% over the last three years. A survey of state departments of education we performed in the summer of 2015 showed that Florida ranked 23rd among the … Continue reading →

When Hechinger Report journalist Tara Garcia Mathewson contacted me last August – a few days before the solar eclipse – to discuss high school physics, I was on my way to rural northern Bay County to visit an Honors Physics … Continue reading →