Sources of student engagement in Introductory Physics for Life Sciences

Self Cite

In response to national calls for improved physical sciences education for students pursuing careers in the life sciences and medicine, reformed introductory physics for life sciences (IPLS) courses are being developed. This exploratory study is among the first to assess the effect of an IPLS course on students' attitudes, interest, and performance. The IPLS course studied was the second semester of introductory physics, following a standard first semester course, allowing the outcomes of the same students in a standard course and in an IPLS course to be compared. In the IPLS course, each physics topic was introduced and elaborated in the context of a life science example, and developing students' skills in applying physics to life science situations was an explicitly stated course goal. Items from the Colorado Learning about Science Survey were used to assess change in students' attitudes toward and their interest in physics. Whereas the same students' attitudes declined during the standard first semester course, we found that students' attitudes toward physics hold steady or improve in the IPLS course. In particular, students with low initial interest in physics displayed greater increases in both attitudes and interest during the IPLS course than in the preceding standard course. We also find that in the IPLS course, students' interest in the life science examples is a better predictor of their performance than their pre-IPLS interest in physics. Our work suggests that the life science examples in the IPLS course can support the development of student interest in physics and positively influence their performance.

Section: E Interest In Life Science Examplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: E Understanding How Students Respond To Particular Examplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life science students’ attitudes, interest, and performance in introductory physics for life sciences: An exploratory study

Crouch

Wisittanawat

Cai

et al. 2018

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“…In this sense, affective experiences that emerge from the intersection of disciplines can be seen as indicating potential areas of disciplinary connection that could be further developed in IPLS courses. These could be areas that are particularly motivating for students to explore as they seem to tap into resources for coherence as well as affective satisfaction that can accompany the resolving of inconsistencies [15,33,34].…”

Section: Affect From Interdisciplinary Sense Makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bridging the gaps: How students seek disciplinary coherence in introductory physics for life science

Geller

Gouvea

Dreyfus

et al. 2019

Self Cite

Students in one discipline often receive their scientific training from faculty in other disciplines. As a result of tacit disciplinary differences, especially as implemented in courses at the introductory college level, such students can have difficulty in understanding the nature of the knowledge they are learning in a discipline that they do not identify as their own. We developed a course in introductory physics for life science (IPLS) students that attempts to help them cross disciplinary boundaries. By analyzing student reasoning during recitation sections and interviews, we identified three broad ways in which students in our course meaningfully crossed boundaries: (i) by unpacking biochemical heuristics in terms of underlying physical interactions, (ii) by locating both biochemical and physical concepts within a mathematical bridging expression, and (iii) by coordinating functional and mechanistic explanations for the same biological phenomenon. Drawing on episodes from case-study interviews and in-class problem-solving sessions, we illustrate how each of these types of boundary crossing involves the coordination of students' conceptual and epistemological resources from physics, chemistry, and biology in distinct but complementary ways. Together, these boundary crossing categories form a theoretical framework for classifying student coherence seeking. We explore how the IPLS course helps our life science students fill in the gaps that exist between traditional introductory courses, by finding and exploring questions that might otherwise fall through disciplinary cracks. By identifying these types of explanatory coherence, we hope to suggest ways of inviting life science students to participate in physics and see physics as a tool for making sense of the living world.

“…[4,6,12,20] • Everyday Life: Students reporting thinking of, talking about, or using physics in their daily life [4,6,12,20] • Personal Interest: Students' reporting that they enjoy doing physics or that it provides a sense of satisfaction [4,6,12,20] Beyond these survey measures, there have been recent efforts to expand what areas of students' lives contribute to their connection with physics, specifically looking at disciplinary interests. Crouch, Geller, and colleagues have investigated student attitudes, interests, and performance in physics activities framed expansively with biological contexts [24,25]. In the next sections we explore each of these surveys in more detail.…”

Section: B How Physics Education Research Has Probed Relevancementioning

confidence: 99%

Operationalizing relevance in physics education: Using a systems view to expand our conception of making physics relevant

Nair

Sawtelle

2019

A common hope of many physics educators and researchers is that students leave the course with a stronger sense that physics is relevant to them than when they entered the course. Multiple survey measures have attempted to measure shifts in students' beliefs on the relevance of physics but frequently the results show a negative shift in students' beliefs and are often reported as a failure of students to "see the relevance." We challenge this interpretation by first operationalizing relevance as a construct by using existing theories on beliefs and attitudes. We utilize ecological systems theory to identify rich sites of relevance in students lives and present evidence to demonstrate the rich ways students are able to make relevant connections to physics. We then reflect on the implications of this expanded view on the limitations of past measures of relevance. We articulate how incorporating students' disciplinary ideas and expertise into the classroom can challenge previous deficit-framed narratives of students' abilities to find the relevance of physics.