The Physics Department of UNCG and the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science of Bennett College are testing an integrated two semester introductory physics course for science majors. The course serves either as preparation for, or as a replacement of the traditional survey course. The project is a cooperative venture between a predominantly white state university of 11,000 and a private college of 600 African American women. The project is evaluating the effects of a decidedly different approach to the traditional two semester introductory physics course on women, minority and 'second tier' students. The attraction of the students to the course, the knowledge of physics gained and retained during the course, and the retention rate of the students in the course are all being measured. In addition, the future success in courses in the physical sciences and mathematics will be monitored. The tenet behind the proposed course comes from recent research in physics education, observations collected by the PIs over many years of teaching introductory courses, recent work done by the PI in Project PIEDMONT, documented evidence describing the low entry rate and high attrition rate of women and non-Asian minorities in physical sciences, and the demographic studies which profile the necessity of increasing the numbers of these populations in the areas of science, mathematics and engineering. Students in the proposed course are examining fewer subject areas in greater depth than students in the usual survey course, and are doing so in ways which are pedagogically more sound and intellectually more exciting. The four-credit hour per semester course is being taught entirely in a laboratory setting for two hours per day, three days a week. The students are developing a firm foundation of concrete experiences through a method of guided inquiry, and are being exposed to the use of modern data acquisition and analysis tools through a microcomputer based laboratory component.
