Racial and gender issues with physics in the Pacific Region

Aung, Than H. and Singh, Awnesh M. and Prasad, Uma W. (2011) Racial and gender issues with physics in the Pacific Region. The Physics Teacher, 49 (6). pp. 349-351. ISSN 0031-921X

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Abstract

This paper examines the state of physics teaching and learning in the Pacific Island nations. How have things changed in teaching physics? We believe that some of the goals and many of the challenges faced today have changed very little over the years. This paper is purely based upon the authors’ experiences in teaching physics at the first-year level at the University of the South Pacific (USP). USP is a typical medium-sized teaching and research university as compared to universities internationally. In the Pacific, it is the biggest university and is effectively serving the 12 Pacific Island nations. Consequently, the findings described here should represent the overall situation for the Pacific region. Perhaps some of our results will resonate with readers in other locations as well. Worldwide, university students often find studying physics to be very challenging, and only a small fraction of them choose physics as a major for their degree or as a career.1 Students at USP are not an exception and here we describe the severity of the problem.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	L Education > L Education (General) Q Science > QC Physics
Divisions:	Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment (FSTE) > School of Engineering and Physics
Depositing User:	Awnesh Singh
Date Deposited:	18 Jul 2013 03:36
Last Modified:	18 Jul 2013 03:36
URI:	http://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/5909

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