Professors put efforts into making physics, chemistry more appealing

Except for future teachers and scientists, most students don't look forward to classes in physics and chemistry.

Upstate college professors are doing their best to reverse the trend by changing the way science is taught, and at the same time, boosting enrollment. Buffalo State College faculty are starting at the high school level, training the very people who will first introduce the topic of physics to their students.

The college began training physics teachers this summer, kicking off a four-year, $503,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Teacher Preparation program, which funds efforts to increase the number of certified, qualified science and math teachers.

Dan MacIsaac, an assistant professor of physics at the college, created the program based on his nationally recognized research. The program trained 90 teachers this summer, including 30 who teach kindergarten through eighth grade.

"It's designed primarily to improve the number of well-qualified physics teachers in the New York region and that means that we help with pre-service teachers, undergrads who will become teachers, and technical people who are switching careers to become teachers," he said. "And we're also helping teachers who want to pick up a certification in physics."

Improving student learning

Buffalo State is leading a coalition of colleges, high schools, school districts and industries that together make up the Physics Teaching Partners Coalition.

MacIsaac leads the group.

The main thrust of MacIsaac's research is on how to improve student learning in physics and make it a more enjoyable event by cutting back on lectures and integrating more hands-on, interactive activities. Though students work in lecture halls, they're not being lectured. Instead, classes should include a lot of group work and cooperative learning.

"If you want cooperative learning, students have to hear themselves talk," MacIsaac said.

The whole idea of lecturing was established in the Middle Ages when just one person had a text. The person would stand before the others and read aloud while they copied it all down and created their own copy. As far as MacIsaac is concerned, the invention of the printing press should have meant the end of such lectures.

"We've de-emphasized the book and lecture format and we've identified special activities as particularly important to learning conceptual physics and we spend more time on those," he said.

MacIsaac drew on research developed at Arizona State, Boise State and San Diego State universities, where studies by researchers have proven that this type of curriculum is simply more effective.

He's also bringing some of those researchers here to Buffalo to discuss the issue further next April at a physics education conference that's expected to draw up to 300 experts from around the country.

"Formal schooling seems to be particularly effective at beating what little interest students and little children have in science out of them," MacIsaac said. "We're hoping to change that."

Expanding the field

While the program concentrates mostly on preparing future teachers, it also helps teach individuals how to think scientifically and why that is valuable.

The techniques are also helping to pull people into the field of teaching--a vital cause considering more than half of physics teachers are within 10 years of retirement, according to MacIsaac.

MacIsaac's alternative certification program allows professionals with a bachelor's degree in engineering, science, technology or math to earn a master's degree in physics education without a traditional student teaching experience.

Making chemistry less hated

While Buffalo State College is working on physics, the University at Buffalo is working on making chemistry more appealing.

The effort to make freshman chemistry "less hated" began when Jim Atwood became chairman of UB's chemistry department five years ago. Major changes in the program have seen enrollment increases of more than 200 percent since 1999. More than 1,000 signed up for Chemistry 101 this fall, versus 430 in 1999.

In spring 2002, the department had 45 seniors, its biggest graduating class since the department was founded in 1922. Such increases are bucking the national trend of declining chemistry majors, according to a report prepared by chemistry professors from other universities as part of a departmental self-study.

The external reviewers cited the department as offering a wide range of undergraduate courses, establishing an excellent advising component and encouraging potential majors to embark on laboratory research with professors early in their academic careers.

Jim McIver, a chemistry professor and director of undergraduate studies for the department, said addressing the high drop- out rate in chemistry was critical not only for the department but for the university.

"I think it's a major transition from the way science has been taught in high schools," he said.

Adding enjoyment to the formula

In addition to changing the teaching methods, the department has changed the textbooks, put better teachers in place and generally made the course more enjoyable. All these things help students perform better, McIver said.

"The other thing we've done is recognize the number of students who are in college and may be perfectly capable, but may have a weak background often through no fault of their own," he said.

To address these issues, students provide an introduction to general chemistry course to focus on problem-solving techniques and how to deal with various problems the students may encounter. Those having difficulty in general chemistry can switch to the lower-level course mid-semester without any penalty.