During the 2012-13 school year, approximately 27,000 teachers taught at least one physics course in a U.S. high school. About one-third of those teachers have earned a degree in physics or physics education; the vast majority of the others have earned degrees in a variety of other science fields. About 53,000 physics classes were taught, ranging…

What textbooks are physics teachers using? How highly do they rate those textbooks? What other types of materials do teachers use? The textbooks and other resources used by high school physics teachers in the US have evolved along with the changing demands of physics classes and the evolving set of options available to teachers. In this report,…

A recent "TPT" call for papers asks for "more research … about how to tear down and/or overcome the barriers to success that the world, and science, and academia, and the culture of physics put in the way of those who are not white and male." Women make up only 20% of bachelor's degree recipients in physics. Hispanic people…

This report examines enrollments in high school physics during the 2012-13 school year. Based on data from the most recent survey (which includes both public and private high schools in the U.S.), it is estimated that 39% of the class of 2013 took high school physics before graduating. During the 2012-13 school year, 1.38 million students were…

Student preparation can be quite nuanced. Not only have students been exposed to a variety of preparatory classes and outside influences, but students also vary in their commitment and approach to their current classes. We asked teachers to offer their opinions on their students' preparation for physics in a number of areas. The overall…

As we saw in the April issue, over 70% of high school physics teachers believe that their students' math background is at least adequate for the course. However, a very different picture emerges when we take a closer look. In the figure at right, we have separated private schools and public schools by socioeconomic status (SES). Although the…

The Longitudinal Study of Astronomy Graduate Students (LSAGS) arose from the 2003 Women in Astronomy Conference, where it was noted that a majority of young members of the American Astronomical Society were women. The astronomy community wishes to make every effort to retain young women in astronomy, so they commissioned a longitudinal study to be…

This "Focus On" first considers the role two-year colleges (TYCs) play in post-secondary physics education. In their 2007 Survey of Undergraduate Seniors in degree-granting physics departments, the authors asked students if they had begun their post-secondary education at a TYC. Nine percent of the physics undergraduate seniors in 2007…

In this report, the authors share their analysis of the data from over 3,500 high schools in the U.S. beginning with an examination of the availability of physics in U.S. high schools. The schools in their sample are a nationally-representative random sample of the almost 25,000 high schools in forty-nine of the fifty states. Table 1 shows the…

Women's representation in physics lags behind most other STEM disciplines. Currently, women make up about 13% of faculty members in all physics degree-granting departments, and there are physics departments with no women faculty members at all. These two data points are often cited as evidence of a lack of equity for women. In this article,…

Since 1987, the Statistical Research Center at the American Institute of Physics has regularly conducted a nationwide survey of high school physics teachers to take a closer look at physics in U.S. high schools. We contact all of the teachers who teach at least one physics course at a nationally representative sample of all U.S. high schools-both…

In an earlier report, ("Physics Enrollments in Two-Year Colleges," ED547610), Susan White and Raymond Chu examined physics enrollments--both the number of students and the types of classes taught--at the 1,063 two-year college campuses in the US where they believe physics is offered. This "Focus On" considers the faculty…

Between March and July 2010, each of the 796 departments that awarded at least a bachelor's degree in physics or astronomy were contacted by e-mail, mail, and certified mail. Follow-up contacts were made for departments that had not yet responded. Responses were received from 744 departments (93%). The percentage of women among physics…

In the fall of 2008, the authors contacted a representative sample of over 3,600 high schools in the U.S.--both public and private--to determine whether or not physics was taught there. They received responses from over 99% of the schools. For the schools which indicated they were offering physics, they obtained contact information for the…

We asked high school physics teachers to assess their level of preparation across a number of domains. Almost all (98%) reported feeling adequately or well prepared in terms of their basic physics knowledge. The chart presents teachers' responses to their self-assessed level of preparation in six different areas. Almost all feel at least…