At Portland State University we have developed a full-year algebra based Introductory Physics for Life Sciences Majors sequence to better serve the population of pre-health and life-sciences students. The new course contains a new biomedical relevant physics curriculum, interactive simulations, and video interviews by biomedical experts. We developed and conducted assessments to probe the effectiveness of this course on student attitudes and engagement. The assessments are intended to gauge student attitudes, content learning goals, biomedical relevance of content and transferability of problem solving skills. This poster summarizes the results of the student surveys and group interviews performed throughout the sequence. Results will be used to refine and improve the protocol for future assessment as well as improve the curriculum.

The FCE, is a research-based two-tier conceptual assessment to evaluate IPLS students’ conceptual difficulty with fluids. As part of the FCE development, researchers utilized both qualitative phenomenology and phenomenography frameworks to meet three of the goals associated with the development of the FCE.  These goals included 1) Assuring that IPLS students understood the Tier 1 multiple-choice questions and responses as intended, 2) All possible responses were included in those listed for each item and 3) To develop tier 2 responses of all possible reasons for answering the Tier 1 item the way that they did. Multiple challenges occurred during this process, including conducting all interviews virtually due to COVID; lack of student participation in the study; and reduced size of sample population especially for lower income and minority students. This poster presents how the FCE developers overcame these challenges that occurred during the FCE development process.