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WIP: Teaching Physics Through a Medical Lens

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Conference

ASEE Zone 1 Conference - Spring 2023

Location

State College,, Pennsylvania

Publication Date

March 30, 2023

Start Date

March 30, 2023

End Date

April 12, 2023

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

10

DOI

10.18260/1-2--46391

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/46391

Download Count

160

Paper Authors

biography

Billal Tamer Gomaa Penn State University

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I am a second-year Schreyer scholar at Penn State University majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. I was born and raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and hope to attend medical school in pursuit of becoming a physician. At school, I am involved with research in the Girirajan lab, the American Red Cross and a leader in the Egyptian Student Association as well as the Biochemistry Society.

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Abstract

Physics generally falls under engineering programs yet is required for a multitude of different majors spanning many departments and disciplines including medicine. When people think about the medical field, their mind immediately goes to classes such as biology, chemistry, anatomy and physiology. However, when looking at the prerequisite courses for medical school or tested MCAT content, there seems to be one subject that doesn’t fit in with the rest: physics. For years, pre-health students have joked that physics is much less applicable to their future careers than the other courses. The goal of this research paper is to tackle the general student assumption that understanding physics will not help them in their respective fields by providing real-life examples of physics principles being used. The text will be split into subsections based on the first unit of an “Introductory Physics II” course, which covers topics such as lenses, parallax, reflection, refraction and vision. The paper is meant to supplement course content and lesson objectives. The paper aims to approach the applications from a student point-of-view and present information in a compelling and digestible manner such that it can be understood by members of a variety of disciplines. The paper is being written to honorize the the introductory physics II course and to further passion for the medical field through physics.

Gomaa, B. T. (2023, March), WIP: Teaching Physics Through a Medical Lens Paper presented at ASEE Zone 1 Conference - Spring 2023, State College,, Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--46391

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