Abstract
Collegiate physics professors have long been familiar with the issue of students’ attitudes towards the subject material. This is especially prevalent in pre-health professional students - non-majors - who are often required to take the introductory physics sequence as a part of entrance into a medical graduate program. This pilot study used a modified version of the Physics Attitude Scale (PAS) and modified questions from the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) to examine the attitudes of students going into a health-professions career. The objective of this study was to investigate if connecting physics to medical fields would result in a better attitude for pre-health professional students. The students were given the PAS survey to determine baseline attitude towards physics. One month later, a follow up was conducted. The students were given medical scenarios connecting physics with the medical field. Immediately after, the PAS survey was repeated to see if their attitudes would be different in pre- and post-survey. The findings indicate improvement in student attitudes towards physics upon connecting the discipline of physics to health professions.
Included in
Physics Attitude in Pre-Health Professions Students Upon Connecting Physics to the Medical Field
Collegiate physics professors have long been familiar with the issue of students’ attitudes towards the subject material. This is especially prevalent in pre-health professional students - non-majors - who are often required to take the introductory physics sequence as a part of entrance into a medical graduate program. This pilot study used a modified version of the Physics Attitude Scale (PAS) and modified questions from the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) to examine the attitudes of students going into a health-professions career. The objective of this study was to investigate if connecting physics to medical fields would result in a better attitude for pre-health professional students. The students were given the PAS survey to determine baseline attitude towards physics. One month later, a follow up was conducted. The students were given medical scenarios connecting physics with the medical field. Immediately after, the PAS survey was repeated to see if their attitudes would be different in pre- and post-survey. The findings indicate improvement in student attitudes towards physics upon connecting the discipline of physics to health professions.