2013/08/18 by K. Moore, J. Giannini, W. Losert · 21 citations
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #Charge (physics) #Course (navigation) #Experimental and Theoretical Physics Studies #Motion (physics) #Science Education and Pedagogy #Set (abstract data type) #Test (biology) #Various Chemistry Research Topics #physics.ed-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1119/1.4870388
published in American Journal of Physics 82(5), 387-393 (American Institute of Physics) · 10 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2013/08/18 · openalex publication_date 2014/04/25 · arxiv updated 2015/06/16 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We have developed a set of laboratories and hands on activities to accompany a new two-semester interdisciplinary physics course that has been developed and tested in two small test classes 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. These prerequisites permit 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 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 response results from these two classes are discussed.