| Mission |
| The primary mission of the
Department of Physics is to provide full academic support for: |
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a. the BS major in Physics
and a minor in Applied Physics, |
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b. the Core Curriculum
through basic sequences in Physics on calculus and |
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algebra levels, as
well as general elective courses in astronomy, in order to |
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meet the
needs of all non-physics majors, |
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c. the engineering programs
through professional elective courses. |
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| Expected Results |
| Physics majors should be
adequately prepared for graduate study in physics or closely related
disciplines. The curriculum will be broad enough to prepare all physics majors
for a wide range of careers in education at the secondary level, research and
industrial scientific laboratories, high-technology branches of the Armed
Forces, as well as other careers that require analytical thinking with a
mathematical and scientific background. |
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| After completing the physics core
curriculum sequence, engineering and non-physics science majors will be
adequately prepared for passing the physics portions of standard graduate or
professional school qualifying examinations such as GRE or MCAT. |
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| The important (if not the principle) objective of
the College Physics sequence is to influence the students' attitudes towards
physics, which for an average student is difficult, mathematical in nature, and
concentrates on questions of little relevance for an "ordinary
person." For this reason, the assessment of this physics sequence is
heavily weighted toward its initial attraction for students (at least 15% of the
non-science majors in each class will select PHYS 203/204 to address their Core
Science Requirement) and student retention (at least 85% of the students who
begin PHYS 203 will complete it and at least 90% of these students will continue
with PHYS 204 and complete the sequence). In addition, the level of
understanding and appreciation of physics will be reflected in the overall
success of the students (at least 90% of these who pass the course will do it
with grades of C or higher). |
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| Assessment Tools |
| The department head conducts
interviews with graduating seniors to ask for their opinions on the quality and
structure of the Physics major. Due to historically small numbers of graduating
majors and their divergent career interest. |
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| The assessment of the structure and content of
the basic Core Curriculum sequences is carried out by a department faculty
survey. These sequences are compared with those in other institutions. The
department head also visits the engineering and science departments asking for
their assessment of the preparations of their students in the basic concepts of
physics. |
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| Assessment Results |
| For many years all our majors who
expressed interest in graduate study have been accepted by one of the schools of
their choice. The rest found no difficulty with finding desirable employment.
Two physics majors graduated in 2000. One of them intends to continue in a
graduate school in pedagogy after a one-year teaching internship, and the other
has accepted a commission in the Air Force. |
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| The results of the assessment of
the lower division course offerings can be summarized as follows: |
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| The liberal-arts sequence has
been redesigned to better address the College's science core requirements. Its
laboratory component places more emphasis on understanding of concepts of
physics through discovery experience rather than on developing specific bench
skills for work in a scientific laboratory. However, since some biology majors
now take this course, the text has been changed and the coursework involves more
problem solving than before. The course continues to be a success. |
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| Satisfying the different
expectations for the calculus-based sequence has turned out to be a difficult
task. Considerable improvement in this sequence has been achieved by formally
incorporating Modern Physics into it and replacing the system of four
three-credit-hour lectures by a block of three three-credit-hour lectures
supplemented by an additional hour for physics majors and minors and BS
chemistry majors. The main difficulty in implementing the new system is the
division of the course material between the three-hour main course and one hour
additional topics lecture. The transition to the new system was relatively easy
in the trials when most of the students were taking both sections. However, an
unexpected problem in implementing the new system arose when it was offered to
the engineering audience. While it is easy for a faculty to relegate portions of
the material to the "extra hour" section, it turned out to be
psychologically difficult to skip them altogether in the semester when the extra
hour is not offered. In consequence, in the first attempt, more material was
taught than students could absorb. The drop rate was unacceptable, approximately
20%, and the number of student complaints was large. |
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| The problem will be resolved. A different
textbook, more modular in style, and thus better suited to apportioning material
between two variants of the course was adopted effective with the fall 2000
semester, and a more rigid, department-wide syllabus for this course will be
adopted. |
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| No final decision will be
possible on the format of the entire revised sequence without thorough
assessment of the actual trials with full-size classes which began in the
1999-2000 academic year. |
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| The Department of Physics has
moved from traditional lab experiments to experiments conducted through
computer-interfaces. These experiments are driven by MacIntosh computers. All
new experiments were purchased, installed, and tested before they were used in
an actual instructional lab environment. In 1998-99, The Citadel Development
Foundation provided $90,071 to purchase the lab experiments for the Physics with
Calculus II Lab, the Modern Physics Lab, and the Nuclear Physics Lab. The
mechanics and heat labs were developed in spring 1998 and offered first in fall
1998. The modern physics lab offered for the first time in spring 1999. The
final lab in electromagnetism was developed in 1999-00. |
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| Much of the assessment effort of the Department
of Physics in the past two years has dealt with ensuring the successful
implementation of the new Core Curriculum sequences. These efforts have
consisted in the main of faculty surveys, discussion of course and lab content,
and comparison of coverage of the new courses with that of comparable programs
at other institutions. |
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| »
2000
IE Summary Report |
| »
2000
IE Data Report |
