Initial Responses to the “Scientific Foundations of Future Physicians” report: the effect on Introductory Physics for the

Life Sciences

Suzanne Amador Kane

Physics Department

Haverford College

AAPT/APS Joint MeetingFebruary 15, 2010

Catherine CrouchSwarthmore College

Robert HilbornUniversity of Texas, Dallas

Tim McKayUniversity of Michigan

Mark ReevesGeorge Washington University

Google: “intro physics life sciences”“AAMC-HHMI physics”

• IPLS wiki at https://www.phys.gwu.edu/iplswiki

• AAMC-HHMI report: http://www.aamc.org/newsroom/pressrel/2009/090604.htm

• New MCAT MR5: http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/mr5/mr5shortoverview.pdf

• Compadre www.compadre.org

Challenges for Physics

• Devise courses that helps students meet the report’s competencies

• Sharpen the focus of intro physics for life sciences: not everything in the standard introductory physics course is relevant to life science students

• Work with other STEM colleagues to streamline and focus the pre-health curriculum

Report on October 25, 2009 Workshop on IPLS

• 40+ physicists, life scientists, AAMC, APS, AAPT reps

• Report implications for physics?• AAMC message: SFFP offers a way to

innovate without previous MCAT/premed requirements as constraints

• Do the right thing—teach what physicians/life science students need to know—don’t just teach to MCAT (old or new)

Life science perspectives• Bio/Med more quantitative – students need to

use (more) physics now• Skill/knowledge transfer physics biology,

isn’t working• Make life science connections with physics in

class (not later)• New content: fluids, basic stat. physics

(diffusion, random walks, distributions), electrostatics in media, physical techniques, quantitative methods (data analysis, etc.)

Audience Challenges

• IPLS students don’t understand course goals• Many feel they “can’t do physics”• Fixed ideas about “plug-and-chug”• Learning other approaches in other courses• “I went into the life sciences to avoid math

and physics”• Diverse student preparation, background• Diverse student majors, careers

Physics content in SFFP Report

• Most topics sound familiar• New bio/med emphases • What physics to omit/de-emphasize?• Swap engineering Life science examples

• New curricular materials needed: textbooks, good problems (relevant life science content)

The rub…Bottom-down approach: teach physics later

see an application ?“These students see biology in other courses;

this is their only chance to learn physics. Teach foundations, the rest will follow.”

Top-down approach: Bio problem motivates physics tools ?

“We know transfer isn’t happening with this approach; teach them what they need to know/use. The extra motivation results in their learning more physics.”

The No-Pain, No Physics-Loss IPLS Solution!

TEACHTHIS

NOTTHAT!

Less time on…

• Kinematics & friction-free trajectories• Constant force, acceleration• Friction• Hookean mass-spring systems• Kepler’s Laws• Gravitation

More time on…

• Actual trajectories• Acceleration from rest to a constant velocity• Energy• Dissipative systems (drag, etc.)• Thermodynamics at constant T, Pressure• Elasticity (simple continuum mechanics,

fracture, non-Hookean systems)• Fluids

About the same on…

• Waves & oscillations• Electricity & magnetism (most)• Modern / quantum physics

But with attention to applications in life sciences

Physics “process skills”

• Keep physics approach to math modeling• Simplifying problems, finding essential

features• Quantitative model-building• Empirical testing, limitations• Experimental design, critiquing, refinement

• . Some ideas and approaches to be included:• <ol>• <li>the possibility for open systems• <li>teach momentum conservation, but from

the point of view of interactions and impulse• <li>discuss energy realistically, that is include

all forms of ingoing and outcoming energy• <li>accounting for dissipative energy• <li>introduction of statistical principles• <li>discussing complexity, the idea of hidden

models in thermodynamics, but showing that statistical approaches connect these to fundamental interactions.

• <li>ideas of scale• <li>using circuits as an analogy for energy

input and output of a system.• </ol>• and others to be excluded:• <ol>• <li>equations that do not have conceptual

meaning• <li>discussions of steam engines• <li>discussions of entropy and disorder or of

entropy as a hidden cause of not being able to convert all heat to work

• <li>a focus on mechanical energy• <li>thermal expansion• </ol>

• A major goal of teaching about energy will be to demonstrate its universality so that studnets do not emerge from their science classes, as they often do now, with the sense that there is physics energy, chemistry energy, and biology energy.

• == Dynamics: particle motion, fluids, diffusion ==

• The general feeling was that kinematics in the sense of trajectory motion problems has little usefulness to the life science curriculum. These are problems that are endured, sometimes mastered, but rather quickly forgotten. Ideas from kinematics such as rate and acceleration do have application to problems in epidemiology, evolution, and population growth.

• What should be included?• <ol>• <li>Motion influenced by dissipation• <li>diffusion• <li>osmosis• <li>modeling on conservation principles to

illustrate and use the Bernouli equation• </ol>• What should be excluded• <ol>• <li>trajectory motion• <li>a heavy emphasis on inertial motion• <li>rotational kinematics, conservation of

angular momentum• </ol>

• == Forces and torques ==• Forces and torques as drivers of kinematics,

that is Newtonian mechanics, forms the heart of current introductory physics classes. This approach assumes that the students will be later thinking about problems that arise in inertial reference frames. Is this the correct approach when trying to solve problems in which dissipation plays a major role? Certainly one moves from accelerated motion to constant velocity when the dissipative force equals the driving force, and this comes straight from Newton's Laws of Motion. However, as traditionally taught, the three laws of motion are applied over and over to problems in which dissipation is ignored. Thus, our discussion centered on placing in the introductory course problems from fluid motion, fluids at low Reynolds numbers, and other examples where once the external force is removed, then then object ceases its motion.

• What should be included• <ol>• <li>Free body diagrams and resolution of

forces and torques• <li>motivating ideas from biomechanics:

strength of materials, muscle action, thresholds for damage

• <li>drag forces• </ol>• What should be excluded• <ol>• <li>gravitation• <li>Kepler's Laws• </ol>

• == Summary ==• In the end, it is worth repeating that we are

looking to teach an easily identifiable physics course that is enriched by life-science contents. Relevance is important as a motivating tool to inspire students to learn, and also that the material presented in the course will be useful to our students in subsequent classes. Thus it is important to also teach where the students will see these ideas in their biology and chemistry courses - a point made by the group who reported the life sciences perspective. We teach that Physics is the foundational science - the point is made more convincingly when we show our students the explicit connections to other sciences. Finally, we have a unique opportunity to teach a knowledge and understanding of physics that will allow our students to be better scientists and medical professionals.

How to (better) teach “Process Skills”

• How to harness student’s motivation to succeed in our courses?

• Learn about their other courses – connect explicitly to their chosen fields.

• Tell students these skills are a course goal• Relate to their future career goals• Test & grade based on these skills

How to (better) teach “Process Skills”

• Know students’ “initial knowledge state”• Scientific skills develop over the long-term—

coordinate with other departments?• Reference their other science course content?

Integrated courses? (integrated sciences @ Princeton? Harvard’s chem/physics intro course?)

• Improve lab & integrate into lecture

Assessment

• What do we want to assess? (what mix of content, skills, and attitudes)

• What existing assessment tools are useful?• What new tools are needed and how can they

be developed?• Can we test retention and/or transfer of skills

into later (non-physics) courses?• Many existing tools, but not aimed at this task

Education Research Challenges• How do IPLS students differ from other physic s populations?• How to use lessons from PER ?• What new work can be done / needs to be done?Existing resources include:• Teaching problem-solving skills, U.Minnesota cooperative group

problem-solving (CGPS)• Hypothesis generation and testing: Rutgers group’s Investigative

Science Learning Environment (ISLE)• Explicit focus on reading and interpreting graphs (such as with

Real-Time Physics)• SCALE-UP and Arizona State -- modeling• 4 or 5-step problem-solving strategies based on studies of expert

problem solving (some intro texts)

Institutional support

• Blue ribbon panel—identify & publicize best practices

• Funding initiatives to support curricular development and institutional changes

• AAMC: Clarity on timing, logistics of implementation & assessment

• AAMC: Specifics on new MCAT?

Networking & DisseminationFuture events:• APS March Meeting Educational Challenges in Biological

Physics, March 15-19• 2010 Gordon Research Conference : Experimental

Research and Laboratories in Physics Education, June 6-11• Teaching Medical Physics: Innovations in Learning:

American Association of Medical Physicists Summer School, July 22-25

• Summer AAPT Meeting (workshops, session) July 17-21

Laboratories• How do we meet the goals of competencies E1 &

E2, while including more life science content into the physics laboratory curriculum?

• Many institutions have such labs now—see our wiki website

• New emphases: imaging, diffusion, random walks, medical applications of circuits, optics.

• How to incorporate lessons from physics education research (SCALE UP) to make students learn desired competencies from these experiences?

Lab Examples

• Imaging & bacterial motility (George Washington University)

• Brownian Motion (Centre College, U. Md., Johns Hopkins)

• Fluids & microfluidics (Johns Hopkins)

• Ultrasound imaging (Haverford)

• Scaling of Bones (Mt. Holyoke)

• Optics of the human eye (Pasco)

• EKG lab (Swarthmore)

• DNA crystallography with visible light (Institute for Chemical Education)

• Radiography with visible light (Haverford)

• CT with visible light (Centenary, Kansas State)

• MRI (Magritek), NMR (Teachspin)

TBD: Laser surgery, fiberscope optics, nuclear medicine/radioactivity

More Lab Examples

Process skills in the lab

• Enhance transfer—show how physics leads into applications (Waves & Sound ultrasound imaging)

• Hypothesis testing: Bone Scaling simple Galilean theory does not work!

• Interpretation skills & data analysis• Teamwork• Reading (simple, basic) in the scientific

literature