Transcript of Can understanding different scientific cultures and practices in Biology and Physics lead to better...
- Slide 1
- Can understanding different scientific cultures and practices
in Biology and Physics lead to better teaching of Introductory
Physics to biologists? Robert D. Stevenson 1 and Jonathan Celli 2 1
Biology Department and 2 Physics Department, UMass Boston, Boston,
MA, 02125 U.S.A. Introduction The foundations of biology depend on
physics. The connections between disciplines are strong.
Acknowledgements From quarks to the cosmos and the Big Bang to the
End of the Universe, the spatial and temporal scales of physics
easily encompass biology phenomena. There is no evidence that life
violates physical laws. In addition, the tools and instruments of
biology are often derived from research in physics. Furthermore,
some of biology's most famous scientists were originally trained in
physics, including more than one Nobel laureate. Discussion and
Comments Biology faculty and graduate responses about discipline
importance using an anonymous on survey Physics is not currently a
priority for students at UMass Boston. They are taking physics late
in their course of study. Next Steps The biologists (faculty, n =
14 and graduate students, n =17) at UMass Boston work across all
levels of biological organization, from molecules to ecosystems.
The survey shows they value bioinformatics and statistics as
disciplines that can are important in many subdisciplines of
biology. Steve Vogel is the exception not the rule among
biologists. Most biologists do not use physics explicitly in their
everyday work. Biologists are still unraveling the elements of
their systems. Their questions take the form of YES or NO answers
or they spend their time counting. The complexity of biological
systems and their interactions are so poorly understood that
machinery of physics can not be applied. Furthermore biological
systems are far from equilibrium, states relatively unstudied by
physicists and chemists. Part of the conversation is to explore the
questions What do biologists think about physics? The next
generation science standards Crosscutting Concepts offer fruitful
territory for discussion. Thanks to Rachel Skvirsky and Brian White
in our Biology Department and Bala Sundaram an Steve Arnason in the
Physics Department for stimulating discussions. The seven themes
are: 1. Patterns. 2. Cause and effect. 3. Scale, proportion, and
quantity. 4. Systems and system models. 5. Energy and matter: 6.
Structure and function. 7. Stability and change. These concepts cut
across all science discipline and are likely to be a good starting
point for physics and biologist to collaborate on making
introductory Physics more valuable for biology students. 1. Rate
disciplines that are important to your research. 2. Increasing my
knowledge and skill in this area would make me a better scientist
in my field. 3. Many undergraduate biology curricula, including our
major, require science courses outside of biology to complete a
degree. If you had to trim requirements by two classes, which ones
would you remove?. 4. Assuming a person holds a BS in Biology,
proficiency in what two additional disciplines would improve their
chances for employment, for admission to graduate school, or for
employment as a technician in your lab? Among 10 science
disciplines, biologists ranked Mathematics, Statistics, and
Bioinformatics the most important. Chemistry and Computer Science
were ranked 4 th and 5 th. Physics is not regularly used by many
biologists. The four environmental science disciplines of
Oceanography, GIS, Geology and Atmospheric Science are never used
by 50% of the respondents. Bioinformatics, Statistics and Computer
Science were identified as the three most important disciplines in
which scientists thought increased knowledge and skill would
improve their research. Chemistry and Mathematics were followed.
Physics was ranked in the bottom half along with the four
environmental disciplines. Among the three courses, Chemistry,
Physics and Calculus, often required for an undergraduate college
degree in Biology, the second semester of Calculus and and the
second semester of Physics were voted the least useful for
biologists Consistent with their previous rankings, biologists
rated Bioinformatics and Statistics expertise as the most desirable
when hiring a technician. Chemistry and computer science were rated
3 rd and 4 th. Physics ranked with Oceanography, GIS, and
Mathematics Bioinformatics and Statistics are important to
Biologists Chemistry and Mathematics are valued more than Physics
1.Are there other important questions to ask of Biologists? 2.Do
you have suggestions about how to expand the survey to a range of
institutions? In all four questions biologists ranked Chemistry as
more important than Physics. Biologists also believe they use
Mathematics more than Physics (Q 1&2) and clearly value many
disciplines (bioinformatics, statistics, computer science) that
might be classified as applied mathematics. One aspect of changing
the priorities of the students is to make the introductory physics
course and the labs relevant for biology students. To improve the
chances of success we have started conversations between the
biology and physics faculty.