Introductory Physics for Life Sciences: Design Principles, Resources, and Community*

A national network of physics faculty have developed frameworks and extensive resources for teaching introductory physics to life science students in a way that highlights the value of physics in understanding biology, biochemistry, and medicine.^1,2 These courses seek to give students practice in applying physics to analyze biologically significant phenomena. As more departments become interested in offering such courses, there is a need for curricular materials and support for faculty teaching such courses for the first time and adapting them to their local context.

The Living Physics Portal will provide a state-of-the-art online platform for sharing and developing such curricula. It will allow instructors to find materials through a searchable interface with extensive implementation metadata. More importantly, it will allow those who are new to such courses to learn from experienced instructors about the special features and challenges of such courses; and it will allow those who develop materials, whether novices or experienced, to share their materials for feedback at an early stage, or submit them for consideration for a “vetted collection” for materials that have been extensively used and refined.

This talk will present the motivation for and research supporting the introductory physics for life sciences approach, followed by an introduction to the capabilities of the Portal.

1. C. H. Crouch, R. Hilborn, S. Amador Kane, T. McKay, and M. Reeves, “Physics for Future Physicians and Life Scientists: a moment of opportunity,” The Back Page, APS News 19(3) (March 2010), https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201003/backpage.cfm.
2. Dawn C. Meredith and Edward F. Redish, “Reinventing introductory physics for life science majors,” Physics Today 66, 7, 38 (2013).