Excellence in Physics Education Award Talk: Physics at the Community College

During the 1989 Critical Issues in Two-Year College Physics and Astronomy Conference, it became obvious to many attendees that there was a need to know more about physics programs at the community college and what could be done to impact their physics programs. To find out more about physics at the community college, a number of initiatives were implemented during the last two decades that have dramatically changed many physics programs at community colleges. Most of these initiatives were conducted through or were associated with the American Association of Physics Teachers. One initiative that has had a tremendous impact in this process has been the Two-Year College (TYC) Workshop Project. This presentation will provide more details on the initiatives that have occurred during the last two decades and the impact that they have had on physics programs and current and future physics faculty at community colleges. Details on the development and implementation of the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism, a variety of microcomputer-based laboratories activities, and associated TYC curriculum projects will also be discussed.