dedicated home page
(see articles in this issue). By working with other fora, Ken has established
the Forum on Education as an important element of the APS. The Executive
Committee, the Fellowship Committee, the Program Committee, the Nominating
Committee, and the Publications Committee have all functioned (relatively)
smoothly this year. The Forum has grown to 3780 active members. What better
tribute could there be to Ken's outstanding organizational and leadership
skills?
Today, the Forum on Education has survived its birth trauma. We members
of the Forum have the opportunity to concentrate on projects to support
excellence in physics education. As we begin to move forward, we must consider
concrete steps by which our membership can most effectively impact the
system.
Physics education faces change on several fronts. The National Standards
movement has begun to influence both the content of K-12 science courses
and the way they are taught. Colleges will have to modify course content
and pedagogy to accommodate their students' expectation of more active
learning environments. Teachers at all levels will need help implementing
the demands of new curricula for open-ended investigations. Forum members
can serve K-12 teachers as local sources rich in physics knowledge.
Physicists must work as partners with their colleagues who teach science
at the K- 12 level. Physicists understand physics and have ideas about
how to present it. K-12 teachers understand how children learn and are
expert in managing their classrooms. We need each other! The Forum on Education
must work with groups such as the high school physics teachers in the AAPT's
PTRA program to put physicists from industries and universities in touch
with K-12 teachers. In this way, we can actively support excellent physics
instruction in schools around the country.
Physics graduates at all levels need jobs that use their training. With
the end of the Cold War, national research priorities have shifted from
defense to civilian technologies. Corporations, seeking to meet the challenge
of international competition, are downsizing their research labs and shifting
their research focus to projects promising commercial payoffs in the immediate
future. Basic research in physics frequently pays off handsomely in commercial
products and technologies, but it often takes decades to do so. Despite
physics' history of discoveries that underlie new industries, the public
perceives physics to be remote, abstract and impractical. Many of the most
exciting research discoveries come from emerging fields which cross the
boundaries of traditional scientific disciplines.
Physics education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels must
respond to today's changing research and economic climates. The physics
community must decide whether the traditional physics major should be broadened
to serve as basic preparation for a wider range of employment opportunities
including business, medical school and even law. Perhaps graduate education
in physics should include courses outside physics departments so graduates
can enter the new cross-disciplinary research areas. Should we develop
new degrees combining physics with business and management training or
preparing teachers for two year colleges? In this time of change, we must
ensure that our enthusiasm for reform does not destroy our tradition of
scientific excellence or the rigor of graduate programs. These complex
problems and compelling values defy simplistic solutions. Forum on Education
members represent all segments of the physics community and should be active
participants in the discussion.
The two year colleges teach about half of the introductory physics taught
in the US and more than their share of minorities and women. Tomorrow's
high tech industries are likely to demand two year graduates with better
understanding of physics. Forum members can work productively to help their
colleagues in the two year colleges provide creative, challenging physics
education geared towards future technicians. Physicists in industry have
an especially critical role to play in bridging the gap between traditional
physics education and the needs of industrial labs and high tech manufacturing.
The Forum on Education should help its members make connections with physicists
in the two year colleges by working in partnership with the two year college
committee of the AAPT.
Last, but by no means least, physicists must explain the importance of
physics to the general public. In addition to specialized science and children's
museums, Forum members must work in partnership with local media including
newspapers, magazines, television and radio. The Forum on Education must
investigate ways of forming partnerships with experts in these arenas.
Not all of us can produce successful media materials and museum exhibits,
but we need to discover excellent materials which we can distribute to
local markets.
We in the Forum on Education face an interesting year. There is both
good and bad news. The bad news is that physics education faces a variety
of challenges. The good news is that, among us, we have the resources to
meet these challenges and that there is interesting work in education for
all of us to do. We need your involvement and ideas today. Together we
can move towards excellence at all levels of physics education.
