Instructor: Thomas Twardwoski, PhD

This project's purpose was to develop materials for teaching Introductory Physics following a language model. Physics remains one of the most dreaded science classes facing architecture, design, premedical studies, science, and engineering students on campus. Prior research by the author into a language model to teach math and science has demonstrated that the approach is effective, especially with novice learners with little prior technical subject training). The goal was to create materials that other course faculty canould use to implement the language model across the range of Introductory Physics offerings. Specific outputs include: preparation tools with supporting quizzes; readings about grammatical concepts, key stories, important tools, interesting characters, and real-world applications; and application tasks including: interpretation and translation; and beginner, real-world or hyper-real challenge problems. The plan includes review of the materials using faculty peers, a student focus group, and non-science reviewers. The further plan is to work with University development resources to package the materials for implementation, e.g. through Canvas.

At the end of this session, participants should be able to:

1. Use the components of physics relevant to other branches of science and professional disciplines, applying them in written analytical work.

2. Demonstrate improved quantitative reasoning and understanding of basic phenomena by applying the relationships of physics following scientific methods.

3. Participate in the scientific community by analyzing and writing about experiments and realistic problems rather than idealizations.