1820 - Building Community and Better Pedagogy through the Living Physics Portal

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a significant growth in the curricular resource available to instructors teaching Introductory Physics for the Life Sciences (IPLS) courses. The development of the Living Physics Portal site has helped faculty engaged in curricular redesign of our IPLS courses build a shared sense of community, while also providing excellent curricular materials for modification use and in our courses. In this talk, I will share my experiences participating in the Living Physics Portal community. Using examples from scaling laws, mechanics and electrostatics, I will describe how curricular materials from the portal have helped student engagement in my IPLS courses. I have also participated in the portal’s “curriculum swap” working groups where faculty from across the U.S. and beyond discussed and shared ideas on course design, pedagogical methods, and instructional challenges in physics courses. This talk will reflect on the opportunities and challenges in these community-building initiatives.