Toward Better Physics Labs for Future Biologists

TL;DR

This paper presents a new interdisciplinary physics laboratory curriculum designed for second-year biology students, integrating modern physics concepts and research tools relevant to cellular biology, tested at UMD.

Contribution

It introduces a novel set of labs that combine physics and biology, emphasizing research-grade equipment and open-ended experiments for biology students.

Findings

Positive student engagement observed in test classes

Effective integration of physics concepts relevant to biology

Preliminary results indicate improved understanding of cellular physics

Abstract

We have developed a set of laboratories and hands on activities to accompany a new two-semester interdisciplinary physics course that has been successfully developed and tested in two small test classes of students at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) in 2012-2013. We have designed the laboratories to be taken accompanying a reformed course in the student's second year, with calculus, biology, and chemistry as prerequisites. This permits the laboratories to include significant content on physics relevant to cellular scales, from chemical interactions to random motion and charge screening in fluids. We also introduce the students to research-grade equipment and modern physics analysis tools in contexts relevant to biology, while maintaining the pedagogically valuable open-ended laboratory structure of reformed laboratories. Preliminary student results from these two small test classes are discussed.