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What is Experiential Physics?

A number of years ago the department coined the word "experiential physics" to represent the way in which physics would be presented to Mount Allison students. We also made a commitment to fundamentally transform the way Physics is taught at Mount Allison, and we strive to serve as a model for other departments at Mount Allison, and in the broader educational context, nationally and to some degree internationally.

The word "experiential" stresses the promotion of active learning experiences and that passive presentation/lecture modes would be diminished to comprise only a small part of the student's experience. Of course, in many senses, Physics has always been a subject with extensive 'hands on' laboratory experiences. Also, we have always placed high emphasis on the ultimate student experiential learning - individual student research projects - and an impressive number of our students have achieved recognition for their research work and related presentations. Particularly in the last decade, we have provided frequent opportunities for student presentations both within and beyond our formal course structures.

The Physics Department commitment is to have experiential physics as an integral part of virtually every aspect of our department. The vast majority of our courses have, or soon will, shrink the lecture/didactic component to less than 25% of the class time: for the most part, students will be working in groups and creatively solving problems and presenting results. Many of these experiences use interfaced computers, including digital video as well as electronic interfacing, and there will therefore be a very modern feel to the education. However, because of the small group and 1:1 instructor communication, it becomes an even more personal mode of instruction. Case studies based on industry models in some courses enhance the preparation of our students for the workplace.

We also are striving to further strengthen an already vibrant program in individual student research opportunities. We want to provide experiences for our students which are as rich as possible. We continue to provide students with excellent opportunities for development of communication, leadership and teaching skills. A large percentage of our major and honours students, and some students who minor in physics, serve as teaching assistants in one or more courses in the department. Through this work they learn skills in organization, effective communication, teamwork, supervision and evaluation. Also, a number of our students are active in outreach to the community. Through presentations and work with large school groups, classes, and individual students these students enhance their communication and leadership skills. We are considering other options for community learning experiences.

Through Leadership Mount Allison and the Purdy Crawford Teaching Centre we have ongoing projects in which students work directly with faculty in the planning and evaluation of instruction. Our honours students all complete theses in which the student learns project planning and management skills, technical skills, technical writing, and modern communication methods. A number of other students research special topics or partake in summer research within the department, learning similar skills.

What Differentiates Experiential Physics at Mount Allison?

In the early years we visited and consulted several other universities which were experimenting with various formats of studio based Physics, and have learned from those experiences. While a studio/experiential emphasis already places us in a group of only a few Canadian Physics departments, we see several ways in which our implementation of experiential modes of instruction differentiates us from even the international leaders in studio based Physics teaching:

* This is a department wide implementation with 100% support and involvement of all faculty members and other staff, and enthusiastic support from our students.
* Some programs are strong in terms of technology, and others in terms of personal modes of teaching - ours has balanced strength in both.
* We will potentially have a larger impact on our entire institution because we teach a very large number of students in all disciplines.
* A vibrant undergraduate research experience is a vital part of the program.
* Development of student leadership skills, in conjunction with Leadership Mount Allison, is a primary goal of the program.