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Abstract Title: Traditional physics versus IPLS: Comparing student interest and engagement
Abstract: Swarthmore College life science students take a traditional first semester physics course, but have the option of taking an innovative Introductory Physics for the Life Sciences (IPLS) course in the second semester. This curricular structure presents a unique opportunity to compare students' experiences across these different instructional environments. We have used multiple conceptual and attitudinal survey instruments, and have interviewed a number of students over the course of the year, in an effort to assess students' evolving relationship with physics across these two different experiences. In this talk we present some of our findings from these survey and interview data, comparing epistemological and affective features of students' experiences across the traditional and IPLS environments. This comparison allows us to identify some of the features that students find especially engaging about the IPLS course in particular.
Abstract Type: Contributed Poster Presentation

Author/Organizer Information

Primary Contact: Tessa E. Williams
Swarthmore College
500 College Ave
Swarthmore, PA 19081
Phone: 3602017430
Co-Author(s)
and Co-Presenter(s)
Benjamin D. Geller, Swarthmore College
Chandra Turpen, University of Maryland College Park
K. Ann Renninger, Swarthmore College
Catherine H. Crouch, Swarthmore College