  We address the question "How do students make sense of Physics from the point
of view of constituting physics knowledge?". A phenomenographic study is
described as a result of which we present six qualitatively different ways in
which students experience the first year of Physics. The variation is analysed
in terms of the structure of experience, the nature of knowlege and an ethical
aspect related to the identification of authority. Three of these ways of
experiencing the first year are considered to be unproductive in terms of
making sense of physics, while the other three support, to an increasing
degree, the formation of a well-grounded physics knowledge object. Implications
for practice are considered.
