Physics Thirst? A Survey of Ninth-Grade Physics Students

摘要

In 2008, this magazine ran an article~1 describing the results of a survey of the eighth-graders who were about to begin their first physics course at Weston High School. The results helped this coauthor (BK) and his high school colleagues better understand the expectations of the incoming students. It seemed useful, however, to conduct another survey—one that would probe the attitudes and the perceptions of our ninth-graders who were actually taking physics. That survey was conducted in June 2010 by BK and GH (the latter, at the time, was a sophomore enrolled in BK's Advanced Placements Physics C course).