The Scientific Method: The World As Your Lab—Physics

Science is the process of learning how the world works. Students come to class to learn about the world, but the world in the classroom often does not correspond to the world where they live their lives. Bridging the divide between these two worlds can be difficult and requires that students apply the same skills and thinking from the classroom to where they live.

Minerva’s mission to provide our students with practical and transferable knowledge is enabled by a dedicated effort to ensure students have opportunities to apply the concepts they are learning in the classroom to the world around them and to themselves. This is especially important in the Natural Sciences in which theoretical knowledge should be paired with hands-on experimentation and observation so that students can explore the full scope of the scientific method. At many traditional institutions, this is typically facilitated through laboratory courses. While these lab courses have the potential to offer valuable learning experiences, they tend to emphasize procedural information and skills, rather than engaging students in inquiry-based hypothesis development, experimental design, and analysis. At Minerva, rather than simulate real-world phenomena in a lab, students make a lab out of the real world.

Every course at Minerva has a “location-based” assignment, meaning that it includes certain elements that require students to go out and interact with their city of residence. This series will showcase examples of such assignments across different disciplines within the Natural Sciences, including physics, chemistry, and environmental sciences.

The assignments presented in this series can serve as examples to inspire educators to incorporate experiential learning in their Natural Science courses. All examples share a few common elements:

• An emphasis on real-world, hands-on, project-based learning. Students should have opportunities to make connections between the course content and the world around them.
• An emphasis on defining the learning outcomes. Assignments at Minerva are always designed around granular learning outcomes that relate directly to the learning outcomes of the course.
• An emphasis on the analysis. Getting the “right answers” isn’t the goal of these assignments. Instead, the focus is on the “right explanations.” Students are prompted to justify their approaches and interpret their results in full.
• Adaptability. Even though these are “location-based” assignments, they are not tied to a particular location — they can be done from anywhere! Further, depending on what is asked of students in the analysis, these assignments can be delivered at various levels of complexity and sophistication, from introductory courses to senior concentration classes.

“Physics of Life” (NS110L) is an introductory physics course for Natural Science majors who are concentrating within the life sciences. It covers fundamental physics concepts with an emphasis on problem-solving techniques and life science applications. A few applications that students are exposed to include forces and torques in muscles and joints, fluid dynamics in the circulatory system, and heat regulation in living systems.

The Assignment

The location-based assignment for this course combines fundamental physics concepts, ranging from mechanics, fluids, and thermodynamics, with a memorable and adventurous experience in their location. As a bonus, this assignment requires students to get away from their screens and get some exercise.