Monthly Archives: September 2023

Before I even get to the lede, this extended caveat: This blog post is based on data I have from student surveys and Force Concept Inventory (FCI) pretest results for my first semester calculus-based studio physics classes in five fall … Continue reading →

When I was young – at least much younger than I am now – I thought that as you aged your emotional skin thickened against the frustration and heartbreak of working with students. Now I know better. My skin is … Continue reading →

Florida’s State University System is not making any significant progress in addressing the underrepresentation of women and Black students among bachelor’s degree graduates in math-intensive STEM fields, according to statistics for the 2021-22 academic year recently released by IPEDS. The … Continue reading →

In 2009, physics education researchers from Maryland, Ohio and China compared beginning engineering students in their universities by pre-testing them with several assessment instruments developed in the previous few decades. One of those instruments was the Force Concept Inventory, a … Continue reading →

I’ve said it so many times to so many audiences: Taking a high school physics class improves your likelihood of succeeding in college physics. A national study on this was published in the journal Science in 2007 and showed that … Continue reading →

This year, Florida’s educational leaders have approved a new college entrance exam, the Classic Learning Test (CLT), for Bright Futures eligibility and admission to the state’s public universities. The CLT is now competing directly with the SAT and ACT for … Continue reading →

Fifteen years ago, the FSU Physics Department launched its Studio Physics Program. It was championed by a small core of physics professors who had just enough clout over the years to survive internal criticism. It grew with the help of … Continue reading →

Organizations that advocate for classical charter schools, like Hillsdale College, sometimes focus their arguments for classical education on the development of “moral and intellectual virtue” in students. But it turns out that Florida’s classical charter schools seem to be doing … Continue reading →