Coordinating Science Education, Outreach, and Research

This paper describes the development of a new university physics course which integrates physics education, research, and community outreach. The coordinated system of activities links the new course to local community efforts in pre-college education, university education, university outreach, and research on teaching and learning. The course was found to improve student understanding of physics and understanding of learning principles. Simultaneously, the course supported efforts in community outreach and created a rich environment for education research. The following narrative describes the motivation, structure, implementation, effectiveness, and potential for extension of this new model for science education.