Bridging the gaps: How students seek disciplinary coherence in introductory physics for life science

Students in one discipline often receive their scientific training from faculty in other disciplines. As a result of tacit disciplinary differences, especially as implemented in courses at the introductory college level, such students can have difficulty in understanding the nature of the knowledge...

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Autores principales:	Benjamin D. Geller, Julia Gouvea, Benjamin W. Dreyfus, Vashti Sawtelle, Chandra Turpen, Edward F. Redish
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Physical Society 2019
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/05f2bb9248094756ae1a56c3cd210c3c
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:05f2bb9248094756ae1a56c3cd210c3c2021-12-02T12:07:04ZBridging the gaps: How students seek disciplinary coherence in introductory physics for life science10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.15.0201422469-9896https://doaj.org/article/05f2bb9248094756ae1a56c3cd210c3c2019-11-01T00:00:00Zhttp://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.15.020142http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.15.020142https://doaj.org/toc/2469-9896Students in one discipline often receive their scientific training from faculty in other disciplines. As a result of tacit disciplinary differences, especially as implemented in courses at the introductory college level, such students can have difficulty in understanding the nature of the knowledge they are learning in a discipline that they do not identify as their own. We developed a course in introductory physics for life science (IPLS) students that attempts to help them cross disciplinary boundaries. By analyzing student reasoning during recitation sections and interviews, we identified three broad ways in which students in our course meaningfully crossed boundaries: (i) by unpacking biochemical heuristics in terms of underlying physical interactions, (ii) by locating both biochemical and physical concepts within a mathematical bridging expression, and (iii) by coordinating functional and mechanistic explanations for the same biological phenomenon. Drawing on episodes from case-study interviews and in-class problem-solving sessions, we illustrate how each of these types of boundary crossing involves the coordination of students’ conceptual and epistemological resources from physics, chemistry, and biology in distinct but complementary ways. Together, these boundary crossing categories form a theoretical framework for classifying student coherence seeking. We explore how the IPLS course helps our life science students fill in the gaps that exist between traditional introductory courses, by finding and exploring questions that might otherwise fall through disciplinary cracks. By identifying these types of explanatory coherence, we hope to suggest ways of inviting life science students to participate in physics and see physics as a tool for making sense of the living world.Benjamin D. GellerJulia GouveaBenjamin W. DreyfusVashti SawtelleChandra TurpenEdward F. RedishAmerican Physical SocietyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691PhysicsQC1-999ENPhysical Review Physics Education Research, Vol 15, Iss 2, p 020142 (2019)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999 Benjamin D. Geller Julia Gouvea Benjamin W. Dreyfus Vashti Sawtelle Chandra Turpen Edward F. Redish Bridging the gaps: How students seek disciplinary coherence in introductory physics for life science
description	Students in one discipline often receive their scientific training from faculty in other disciplines. As a result of tacit disciplinary differences, especially as implemented in courses at the introductory college level, such students can have difficulty in understanding the nature of the knowledge they are learning in a discipline that they do not identify as their own. We developed a course in introductory physics for life science (IPLS) students that attempts to help them cross disciplinary boundaries. By analyzing student reasoning during recitation sections and interviews, we identified three broad ways in which students in our course meaningfully crossed boundaries: (i) by unpacking biochemical heuristics in terms of underlying physical interactions, (ii) by locating both biochemical and physical concepts within a mathematical bridging expression, and (iii) by coordinating functional and mechanistic explanations for the same biological phenomenon. Drawing on episodes from case-study interviews and in-class problem-solving sessions, we illustrate how each of these types of boundary crossing involves the coordination of students’ conceptual and epistemological resources from physics, chemistry, and biology in distinct but complementary ways. Together, these boundary crossing categories form a theoretical framework for classifying student coherence seeking. We explore how the IPLS course helps our life science students fill in the gaps that exist between traditional introductory courses, by finding and exploring questions that might otherwise fall through disciplinary cracks. By identifying these types of explanatory coherence, we hope to suggest ways of inviting life science students to participate in physics and see physics as a tool for making sense of the living world.
format	article
author	Benjamin D. Geller Julia Gouvea Benjamin W. Dreyfus Vashti Sawtelle Chandra Turpen Edward F. Redish
author_facet	Benjamin D. Geller Julia Gouvea Benjamin W. Dreyfus Vashti Sawtelle Chandra Turpen Edward F. Redish
author_sort	Benjamin D. Geller
title	Bridging the gaps: How students seek disciplinary coherence in introductory physics for life science
title_short	Bridging the gaps: How students seek disciplinary coherence in introductory physics for life science
title_full	Bridging the gaps: How students seek disciplinary coherence in introductory physics for life science
title_fullStr	Bridging the gaps: How students seek disciplinary coherence in introductory physics for life science
title_full_unstemmed	Bridging the gaps: How students seek disciplinary coherence in introductory physics for life science
title_sort	bridging the gaps: how students seek disciplinary coherence in introductory physics for life science
publisher	American Physical Society
publishDate	2019
url	https://doaj.org/article/05f2bb9248094756ae1a56c3cd210c3c
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Bridging the gaps: How students seek disciplinary coherence in introductory physics for life science

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