Modern physics courses: Understanding the content taught in the U.S
Alexis Buzzell, Ram\'on Barthelemy, and Tim Atherton

TL;DR
This study analyzes 167 U.S. modern physics courses to reveal curriculum variability and emphasizes the need for standardized, comprehensive physics education for majors across institutions.
Contribution
It provides a detailed analysis of modern physics syllabi, highlighting curriculum differences and advocating for more uniform content in physics education.
Findings
High variability in course content and prerequisites
Common foundational topics include Newtonian mechanics and electromagnetism
Quantum physics and relativity are frequently taught
Abstract
The modern physics course is a crucial gateway for physics majors, introducing concepts beyond the scope of K-12 education. Despite its significance, content varies widely among institutions. This study analyzes 167 modern physics syllabi from 127 US research intensive institutions, employing emergent coding using both human and Natural Language Processing methods from public sources (51.5%) and private correspondence (48.5%). Public course catalogs were consulted to identify pre- and co-requisites, with 37.1% of students having completed calculus II. Foundational topics like Newtonian mechanics (94%), electricity and magnetism (84.4%), and waves or optics (77.2%) were frequently required. Quantum physics (94%), atomic physics (83%), and relativity (70%) were most commonly taught. The study highlights the lack of uniformity in modern physics curricula, emphasizing the importance of a…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
