1. Advanced Lab Topical Conference 2009 Session III: Curricular Roles for Advanced Labs Presented by: Gabe Spalding, Illinois Wesleyan University gspaldin@iwu.edu

2. After the first-year introductory sequence, roughly how many semesters of laboratory instruction are required of your physics majors? A) 0 B) 1 C) 2 D) 3 E) 4 F) 5 or more

3. After the introductory sequence, roughly how many semesters of laboratory instruction are required of your physics majors? Based upon the first 50 respondents, the most common response was “2” * Note that such low numbers were associated with some very large institutions, such as the University of Illinois, and others, and that some of the highest numbers actually came from undergraduate-only institutions (e.g., 6 at Bethel).... Conclusion: it is not the size of the institution that dictates the response to this question. How do we feel about the number 2?

4. Please estimate, on average, how many meeting hours are scheduled for laboratory coursework in one of these courses (hours per week * # weeks). A) 30 hours or less B) 40 hours C) 50 hours D) 60 hours E) 70 hours F) 80 hours or more

5. Please estimate, on average, how many meeting hours are scheduled for laboratory coursework in one of these courses. By far, the most common* response amounted to 40 hours, integrated over the term *This response occurred ~ 3 times as often as the next most common response For some courses, the lab component meets for just once a week, for two hours per week for 15 weeks, not all of which are utilized. In other words, there is less than 30 hours of scheduled meeting time. [Note: the full survey asked for both the number of hours per week and for the number of weeks, so it is possible to pull out which programs are on semesters and which are on quarters, but even without doing that, the data indicates a very strong response at 40 hours.]

6. Please estimate the % of your department’s advanced lab course offerings that are stand-alone laboratory courses, vs. those attached to a standard (“theory”) course: A) < 10% (few stand-alone lab classes) B) closer to 25% C) closer to 50% D) closer to 2/3 E) > 90% (all stand-alone lab classes)

7. Please estimate the % of your department’s advanced lab course offerings that are stand-alone laboratory courses, vs. those attached to a standard (“theory”) course: Among our respondents, more instructional laboratory courses are “stand-alone,” but the margin does not appear to be huge Reasons given for these departmental preference are varied. Historical reasons (inertia) are commonly cited. There are also student curriculum and scheduling issues, personnel availability / commitment to teaching laboratory skills, and a commitment to attached labs to link theory with experiment. The vast majority of respondents say their departments do have a stand-alone Advanced Lab course

8. Estimate how many current faculty members in your department have ever taught the Advanced Lab course: A)One B)Two Three Four Five Six or more

9. Estimate how many current faculty members in your department have ever taught the Advanced Lab course: To date, the most common answer is “2” and the next most common answer is “1” I was surprised that even at some of the larger institutions, this number sometimes remained that low. What are the consequences of this "Ghetto-ization" of the Advanced Labs? Should there be more of an effort at making this a shared curricular investment?

10. 10 Please estimate the average annual expenditure on equipment and supplies for this Advanced Lab course:_________ The most common answer (by a factor of three so far) has been $ 1 K or less

11. 11 Please rank on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the key challenge, what are the greatest difficulties facing the Adv. Lab. Instructor? ____Relative lack of equipment ($$) ____Relative lack of time / support to implement ____Relative lack of prior laboratory instruction for students entering the course ____Relative lack of prior knowledge, on the part of the entering students, about the underlying physics of topics to be taught ____Other: There was large agreement regarding for issues in the advanced laboratory: Lack of time and lack of equipment were equally rated as the top issue. Lack of previous experience and lack of prior knowledge were also ranked equally and below the former. Special comments of note: coordination amongst lab instructors, space limitations and the lack of instructional materials were considered problems.