In an era when physics research has contributed to the development of everything from personal computers to heart transplants, the number of students seeking physics degrees has declined nationwide. To do something about these declining numbers, physicists have started looking at physics education reform. Stewart's work, part of a National Science Foundation grant, has already attracted the attention of other universities, which have adopted her lab-based teaching methods in hopes of revitalizing their own physics programs. Traditionally, physics professors lecture to students three to five times a week and hold separate weekly laboratory sessions where students perform experiments. In the University of Arkansas' reformed introductory physics course, lecture and lab intertwine, with labs based on principles learned in lecture.
Students attend two lectures and two lab sessions weekly.
In the lab, Stewart often relies on everyday household items to drive home scientific principles. She found the most popular laboratory experiments included making a speaker and microphone using Dixie cups, building a generator and motor and measuring the earth's magnetic field using a toilet paper tube and wire. By building things that explain certain physical principles, the students learn the assumptions they make about the physical world. Stewart has her students try to answer homework questions before she lectures on the subject matter. She says this way students come prepared to ask questions and understand where their weaknesses lie.