Piecing Together Physics

Stuyvesant’s famous (or infamous, depending on how one looks at it) reputation for excellence in STEM is well-earned. Our robotics teams are among the best in the world, many students routinely win high-profile awards in biology and chemistry, and our average test scores for standardized tests in science and math are among the highest in the city. It’s clear that Stuyvesant’s extracurriculars are well-organized and well-run. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the school’s Physics department under the current administration.

Physics should be one of the most entertaining and exciting scientific subjects to learn. Wondrous images of exploding nuclei, diffracting light rays, colorful spectrometers, and vibrating sound waves should easily capture students’ attention. But it’s here where Stuyvesant’s Physics department faces its biggest problem—educating. Complaints from students abound about inefficient teaching styles, disorganized curricula, and a general lack of oversight. Students cite an inconsistent level of instruction as one of the chief causes of the department’s problems. These problems are numerous: classes rife with cheating, shockingly low test averages, rooms full of sleeping or inattentive students, and a deep-rooted culture of last-minute studying before exams.

Currently, the Physics department’s most pressing issue is its lack of organization, particularly in its departmental curriculum. The administration has failed to effectively implement its new policy of teaching all science courses (biology, chemistry, and physics) at an honors level. Disparities among teaching styles are far too common—some teachers include SAT II Subject Test material in their lessons while others stick to the easier and simpler Regents curriculum that is the standard for New York State public schools. The most obvious solution to this problem (and this can be applied to nearly every department in Stuyvesant) is to create and implement a standardized curriculum by which all teachers must abide. Of course, teachers will still have to implement this curriculum effectively for this change to be successful. However, this shouldn’t prove overly difficult. A standardized curriculum allows teachers to assist each other more effectively; they’ll be able to share teaching materials, methods, or advice without having to account for differences in curricula. The same is true for students: under a standardized curriculum, students from different classes will find it easier to assist each other, as they’ll have been taught the same content and been given similar handouts, homework, and tests. The fact of the matter is that if the Physics department were to abide by a list of topics that must be taught throughout the year, far fewer students will resort to feverish studying, desperate Internet searches, and in the worst-case scenario, cheating to achieve sufficiently high scores.

The next major issue with the department is a failure to effectively teach its students what they need to know to advance their knowledge of the subject. Physics is unique among the general sciences for its combination of mathematical and theoretical thinking. A student won’t survive simply by “plugging in” values for equations and generating an answer or memorizing long lists of formulas, laws, and concepts. The combination of thinking both analytically and conceptually is one of the hardest aspects of the subject, and it is why the Physics department fails to live up to Stuyvesant’s reputation for excellence in STEM. While some teachers are excellent at clearly communicating concepts and methods of solving problems, others rely solely on lecture-style classes, in which students are expected to sit and take notes for 45 minutes (or an hour and a half, depending on the day) while reading off of a Smartboard or projector. Not only is this learning style inadequate and outdated, but it also turns students away from what should be a valuable and fascinating subject.

This is another problem with a relatively simple solution: more oversight. Instead of focusing purely on end-of-term grades and final exam results, the administration should analyze test scores and class averages closely. By identifying the teachers under whom the most students struggle, school leadership can focus its attention on the areas which teachers have not succeeded in with regards to their pupils. The administration should also speak with students in person about their experiences in physics, doing so with the understanding that teachers will not be told what specific students said about them; whatever the annual student surveys are supposed to convey to the administration, they are clearly not working.

Making serious institutional reforms is always difficult, and this will be no exception. The situation as it currently stands requires a systematic, diligent, and transformative set of reforms aimed at fixing long-standing issues within the Physics department. Right now, there is widespread dissatisfaction among much of the junior class in regards to the Physics department. There is so much untapped potential in Stuyvesant’s Physics community: we are failing to take advantage of the experienced teachers, enthusiastic and STEM-savvy students, and well-funded institution that we have. Recently, a teacher walked out of the room in the middle of class, and in the immediate wake of his exit, it became clear that not a single student in the room had heard what he said before leaving. Another incident occurred when a Physics teacher stormed out of class and decided to leave Stuyvesant altogether due to perceived mistreatment by the administration. In some classes, cheating is rampant and an open secret among students. The reasons behind the erratic quality of instruction within the department will have to be seriously examined. Ultimately, all the puzzle pieces needed to create a thriving, successful Physics department are already there. Though putting them together will be difficult, it is doable. And it must be done.