A new approach to the IPLS course is presented. Instead of kinematics, we start with diffusion because students already appreciate its central role from high school biology. Students start by playing the “Marble Game” with a ten-sided dice determining jumps of ten marbles between two boxes. Implementing it in Excel, they discover Fick’s law of diffusion. Finite difference methods are then developed to predict and understand the Marble Game’s ensemble-average behavior. Students then apply similar techniques to drug elimination, radioactive decay, osmosis, ligand binding, enzyme kinetics, the Boltzmann factor, entropy, phase equilibrium, random walks, membrane voltage, and the action potential to discover the consequences of model assumptions. Students validate their models by comparison with data from foundational experiments. Students thus discover for themselves that science is an evidence-based endeavor with testable hypotheses that are supported by experiment using authentic life-science applications of Physics.

Recently, a national effort has focused on improving introductory physics for the life sciences (IPLS), both to optimize the content and skills taught and to support growth of interest and appreciation of the value of physics for the life sciences. We previously found that after such a course at one institution, student self-reported interest in physics and perception of relevance of physics for the life sciences increased. To understand better which elements of the student experience in these courses contribute to these gains, we surveyed students pre and post to measure their interest, self-efficacy, and assessment of physics relevance to the life sciences— taken together, “physics affinity.” In this talk we report the findings of this study at three dissimilar institutions (one small private and two large public institutions with different approaches in their physics courses for life science students). Additionally, we also report the results of a pilot minimal intervention at one institution designed to support students’ interest in physics and appreciation of relevance, while requiring minimal effort from the instructor.  

Prior longitudinal work in our group has shown that our Introductory Physics for Life Sciences (IPLS) course supports students in the development of (i) the ability to successfully use physical models in novel biological contexts, and (ii) positive attitudes toward the relevance of physics to the life sciences. To better understand how our course ecosystem (including the messaging, pedagogy, and curricular choices that collectively constitute the course environment) supports such long-term gains, we implemented survey check-ins with students every few weeks throughout the two-semester course. Data collected from this effort were unpacked via a series of case study interviews, and were triangulated with data collected using a “physics affinity” survey, an instrument that combines measures of student interest, self-efficacy, and sense of the relevance of physics to the life sciences. We report on our coordinated analyses of these data streams, highlighting the features of the course ecosystem that students found to be most essential for their growth.

Traditionally regarded as distinct scientific domains, the blending of physics and biology disciplines offers profound pedagogical benefits. We argue that the significance is not only integrating biology concepts into physics curricula but also reciprocally infusing physics teachings directly into biology courses. Many tools integral to biology, such as the microscope with its iconic status, have foundations in physics. However, the microscope often remains a black box for students, who lack an understanding for the underlying physics principles, making the microscope a prime subject for blending curriculum.  Here we present a carefully scaffolded series of exploratory activities designed to illustrate the physics behind microscopy, culminating in the creation of a mock-microscope. By embedding this curriculum within both physics and biology courses, we aim to foster a comprehensive understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of scientific tools, and better prepare students for both using and troubleshooting in microscopy.

In developing our Fluids Concept Evaluation, we interviewed 73 students from 10 diverse institutions.   We share what we’ve learned from these interviews about how life science students think about fluid dynamics, focusing on Bernoulli’s principle, viscous flow, and Reynolds number.  Student answers are analyzed through the lens of cognitive resources.

For the past decade, University of Massachusetts - Amherst has been developing a IPLS I course which integrates several different threads currently circulating within the PER literature: a topic list and order specifically for biology students, an explicit addressing of the differences between math-in-physics and math-in-math, computation, team-based learning (which uses a flipped model), project-based learning, open educational resources, and concept-first instruction. In this course, All of this is done at scale with five sections of 100 students each served every semester.

In an effort to create a more authentic lab experience, we have refocused our lab goals to address (1) working in a team, (2) experimental design, (3) scientific communication, (4) peer review, and (5) data analysis. Students work with a team throughout the semester to complete 5 labs where they are charged with carrying out experiments mostly of their own design, and creating and presenting posters digitally. While half of the teams present, the other teams are required to complete peer reviews of 3 randomly assigned teams. The lab instructors also complete a review of each team and provide feedback. At the end, teams complete a review of themselves based on feedback from the instructors and their observations of how other teams completed the same lab assignment. Lab activities involve the evaluation of claims and models, and analyzing data with z scores, t tests, and graphical representations. 

Introductory Physics at University of Massachusetts – Amherst is a two-semester sequence. The second semester builds on skills from the first including: reading mathematical equations and team work. The context is a flipped classroom which meets in sections of 300 students at a time. This course focuses on the essential questions "What is an Electron?” and “What is Light?” while exploring authentic biological and chemical contexts. These contexts were developed in conjunction with biology and chemistry faculty at our campus using a mutual mentoring paradigm. Such collaboration ensures that the examples use biologically/chemically authentic language and interests. Collaborations go so far as to ensure that the timing and sequencing of topics supports inter-course transfer as students see the same topics in different courses within weeks and in ways that mutually support understanding.

When working with IPLS students, students frequently lament that physics is not a memorization focused course or one in which plugging in numbers is sufficient for success.  The mental model that I use with such students is that Physics teaches triage: the assessment of a situation by relevance or need especially to determine how resources will be used.  Our IPLS students are familiar with this process from a medical perspective and soon come to see that a productive approach to problem solving in physics.  A rubric used in introductory courses at Marquette University uses the word TRIAGE as a mnemonic for students in framing their problem-solving approach.  Implementing this approach on homework and exams has led to significant improvement in organization and explanation on student work.

For every major physics topic, scenarios of the human body or biomedical context have been created where students use introductory physics models with data to answer real human or biomedical questions, so the results of calculations have meaning.    The data is sometimes taken in class, but more often from referenced research articles, where the data has to be interpreted.   This imparts to students the value of the conceptual and algebraic models of each topic.    Several examples will be presented.