Examining course syllabi: Introductory physics for life sciences

Course syllabi are a required component of college and university courses. Syllabi present both broader course structuring practices, are a valuable “first impression” of what instructors want to offer their students, and are used as tools in course design. While best teaching practices suggest spec...

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Autores principales:	Remy Dou, Raluca Teodorescu, Adrian Madsen, Edward F. Redish, Mark Reeves
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/d4f8ea3a4c644ee1989be6d4d8074f16
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:d4f8ea3a4c644ee1989be6d4d8074f162021-12-02T12:13:14ZExamining course syllabi: Introductory physics for life sciences10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.15.0201432469-9896https://doaj.org/article/d4f8ea3a4c644ee1989be6d4d8074f162019-11-01T00:00:00Zhttp://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.15.020143http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.15.020143https://doaj.org/toc/2469-9896Course syllabi are a required component of college and university courses. Syllabi present both broader course structuring practices, are a valuable “first impression” of what instructors want to offer their students, and are used as tools in course design. While best teaching practices suggest specific recommendations for syllabi development, there is little research evidence regarding their structure and use, especially in the context of introductory physics for life sciences (IPLS) courses. IPLS courses typically host students pursuing careers in the biological or health-related sciences, which are rapidly growing majors compared to other STEM degrees. Since few of these students have significant previous experience with physics, the course syllabus provides a first framing and establishment of expectations for them. In this paper, we analyzed how IPLS instructors write syllabi, how they use them in the course design process, and what experienced instructors recommend to be included in the syllabi. Furthermore, based on these analyses we compiled a set of 31 key components (organized in seven categories) for IPLS course syllabi supported by both widespread use and recommendations from experienced practitioners. We present these components and discuss implications for IPLS syllabus design. Specifically, we bring attention to the value of explicitly incorporating interdisciplinary language in syllabi narratives and learning objectives. This work provides guidance for IPLS course and syllabus design, and can also be relevant for modern interdisciplinary courses with features similar to IPLS courses.Remy DouRaluca TeodorescuAdrian MadsenEdward F. RedishMark ReevesAmerican Physical SocietyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691PhysicsQC1-999ENPhysical Review Physics Education Research, Vol 15, Iss 2, p 020143 (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 Remy Dou Raluca Teodorescu Adrian Madsen Edward F. Redish Mark Reeves Examining course syllabi: Introductory physics for life sciences
description	Course syllabi are a required component of college and university courses. Syllabi present both broader course structuring practices, are a valuable “first impression” of what instructors want to offer their students, and are used as tools in course design. While best teaching practices suggest specific recommendations for syllabi development, there is little research evidence regarding their structure and use, especially in the context of introductory physics for life sciences (IPLS) courses. IPLS courses typically host students pursuing careers in the biological or health-related sciences, which are rapidly growing majors compared to other STEM degrees. Since few of these students have significant previous experience with physics, the course syllabus provides a first framing and establishment of expectations for them. In this paper, we analyzed how IPLS instructors write syllabi, how they use them in the course design process, and what experienced instructors recommend to be included in the syllabi. Furthermore, based on these analyses we compiled a set of 31 key components (organized in seven categories) for IPLS course syllabi supported by both widespread use and recommendations from experienced practitioners. We present these components and discuss implications for IPLS syllabus design. Specifically, we bring attention to the value of explicitly incorporating interdisciplinary language in syllabi narratives and learning objectives. This work provides guidance for IPLS course and syllabus design, and can also be relevant for modern interdisciplinary courses with features similar to IPLS courses.
format	article
author	Remy Dou Raluca Teodorescu Adrian Madsen Edward F. Redish Mark Reeves
author_facet	Remy Dou Raluca Teodorescu Adrian Madsen Edward F. Redish Mark Reeves
author_sort	Remy Dou
title	Examining course syllabi: Introductory physics for life sciences
title_short	Examining course syllabi: Introductory physics for life sciences
title_full	Examining course syllabi: Introductory physics for life sciences
title_fullStr	Examining course syllabi: Introductory physics for life sciences
title_full_unstemmed	Examining course syllabi: Introductory physics for life sciences
title_sort	examining course syllabi: introductory physics for life sciences
publisher	American Physical Society
publishDate	2019
url	https://doaj.org/article/d4f8ea3a4c644ee1989be6d4d8074f16
work_keys_str_mv	AT remydou examiningcoursesyllabiintroductoryphysicsforlifesciences AT ralucateodorescu examiningcoursesyllabiintroductoryphysicsforlifesciences AT adrianmadsen examiningcoursesyllabiintroductoryphysicsforlifesciences AT edwardfredish examiningcoursesyllabiintroductoryphysicsforlifesciences AT markreeves examiningcoursesyllabiintroductoryphysicsforlifesciences
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Examining course syllabi: Introductory physics for life sciences

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