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Learning and Understanding: Improving Advanced Study of Mathematics and Science in U.S. High Schools, Report of the Content Panel for Physics
3 Extent to Which the AP and IB Programs Implement Recommended Practices
This chapter presents a critical review of the AP and IB programs in light of the recommended practices set forth in Chapter 2. Before proceeding, it is important to make note of the differing background and goals of AP and IB Physics.
Today, the AP and IB Physics programs constitute the two most significant factors in defining what is meant by advanced study of physics in the United States. Most students entering the postsecondary education system each year who are identified as having completed an advanced physics course have participated in these two programs.
The reasons for the creation of the two programs were substantially different, and this led naturally to substantial differences in their approaches to advanced physics instruction. All judgments made in any comparison of the programs must be viewed through the lens of their distinctive history and present structure.
THE AP PHYSICS PROGRAM
In this section, we respond directly to the questions under the panel’s charge (see Appendix A) related to curriculum and assessment for the AP Physics program. Where necessary, we distinguish between AP Physics B, a broad survey course without calculus, of the type often taken by students majoring in biology or health-related fields; and AP Physics C, a calculus-based introductory course in mechanics and electricity and magnetism, of the type generally taken by students concentrating in the physical sciences or engineering.
We note at the outset that both AP Physics B and AP Physics C are 1-year courses that are often taken by high school students as a first physics course,14 although that is not
14
The College Board supplied the panel with the results of the background questions asked of the 1998 AP Physics examination candidates. Approximately two-thirds of the 24,000 Physics B candidates had taken only two or fewer semesters of physics in high school prior to attempting the examination. The situation is reversed for Physics C, with about three-fifths of the candidates having taken three or more semesters of physics prior to the examination. The number of 1998 Physics B candidates was approximately twice the number of Physics C candidates, so that well over half of all 1998 AP Physics candidates had taken two or fewer semesters of physics prior to attempting their examinations. About half of the Physics C candidates (6,000 students) took only the mechanics and not the electricity/magnetism exam. About half of this mechanics-only group had taken two semesters or fewer of physics
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