THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE

 

                                                                   FACULTY SENATE

 

Senate Document Number     1107S

 

Date of Senate Approval      01/18/07

 

 

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Statement of Faculty Senate Action:

 

 

APC Document  8:                    Changing Requirements for Physics with Teacher Licensure

 

 

Effective Date:  Fall 2007

 

 

1.   Delete:        On pg 211 and 212, under Physics with Teacher Licensure, items I and II:

 

Add:           On pg 211, in place of deleted entry:

 

I.    Required courses in the major – 29 hours: PHYS 221, 222, 323, 325, 326, 331, 332, 401, 402, 414.

II.    Required courses outside the major – 16-19 hours, including ENVR 130; CHEM 111, 132 (or a satisfactory score on the Chemistry Placement Examination); MATH 191, 192, 291; and those requirements indicated under the Education section of the Catalog.

 

 

2.         Delete:  On pg 212, paragraph under listing of required courses:

 

Students who wish to receive teacher licensure...for additional information.

 

            Add:     On pg 212, in place of deleted entry:

 

            Students who wish to receive teacher licensure should review requirements found in the Education section of the catalog and see the appropriate licensure advisor for additional information. Students seeking licensure in 9-12 Comprehensive Science (as distinct from Physics) must complete the requirements listed above as well as BIOL 123 and 124, CHEM 145 and 236, and ENVR 105.

 

 

Impact:

No impact on the staffing or the resources of the Physics Department.

 

Rationale:

We hope that reducing the number of cognate hours required for a Teacher Licensure concentration in Physics will result in more students pursuing this major. President Bowles is encouraging natural science departments to increase the number of students pursuing teacher licensure. One hindrance in the past was the number of hours required to complete such a major. We currently have two Physics students pursuing teacher licensure, but would like to see more in the future.

 

The Chemistry department will no longer be offering CHEM 144 so it needs to be removed from our list of required courses for licensure in Physics. CHEM 145 is a lab that students took with CHEM 144, so it needs to be dropped as well. However, students wanting to complete licensure in 9-12 Comprehensive Science will still take CHEM 236 (an “equivalent” course for CHEM 144 under the newly redesigned Chemistry curriculum) and CHEM 145.

 

The Physics Department is redesigning its curriculum to combine Modern Physics I and Modern Physics II into a single course, PHYS 326, Modern Physics. We also want to expand our offering of Quantum Mechanics from just one course to a two-course sequence in Quantum Mechanics, I and II.  Students preparing to be teachers need an exposure to Modern Physics and Quantum Mechanics I. However, students in this concentration do not need to have the more advanced exposure of Quantum Mechanics II in order to effectively teach middle school or high school.

 

We are also dropping PHYS 499 from the Teacher Licensure concentration. None of the other concentrations in Physics requires PHYS 499, and it seems out of place to require students going into teaching to take it when it is only recommended for those students planning on study in graduate school.