Investigating the Landscape of Undergraduate Optics Instruction in Physics Departments in the United States

Undergraduate optics courses are offered as electives by many physics departments in the United States. There can be many challenges associated with teaching an optics elective, such as variations in students' fluency with prerequisite physics and math topics, uncertainty about the most essential learning objectives, and difficulty recruiting enough students to enroll to be able to offer the course. We are surveying instructors at institutions in the U.S. about their experiences teaching optics courses to inform future research and instructional efforts in optics education. We will share a synthesis of responses to date about content coverage, student difficulties, and use of pedagogical tools. We will also share opportunities for you to add your perspectives to this and future research and instructional activities related to optics.