Physics in upper secondary schools in Denmark‡‡

‡ Part I appeared in Vol. 7 No. 1 (1985), pp. 95‐106, of this journal.

Abstract

This article is the second in a series reporting on the changes in attitudes and interests‐‐mainly with respect to physics‐‐of several hundred students as they proceed through the Danish upper secondary school (gymnasium). The first article (Nielsen and Thomsen 1985) gave results of an investigation taking place at the very beginning of the gymnasium, and here we concentrate on the results of an investigation which was performed one year later when the students had chosen on which branch to continue their studies in the gymnasium.

The main aim of the present article is to report on the students’ choice of branch, to describe how many students have changed their minds during the first year and to analyse the reasons for such changes. Concerning the last issue we try to measure how the present first year physics course is rated by students and whether it is a decisive factor when the students make their branch choice. The results are compared with corresponding information on the attitudes of a representative group of physics teachers.

‡ Part I appeared in Vol. 7 No. 1 (1985), pp. 95‐106, of this journal.

Notes

‡ Part I appeared in Vol. 7 No. 1 (1985), pp. 95‐106, of this journal.