Connecting Physics and Biology at Introductory level

Nava Schulmann13/04/2015

PastI have a Ph.D. in Physics focused on elastic properties of polymers.

Present

I am a post-doctoral fellow at the Science-Teaching

department of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Prof. Samuel Safran, Department of Materials and

Interfaces; Prof. Edit Yerushalmi, Dr. Nava Schulman, Dr. Shelly

Livne, Dr. Elon Langbheim, Ariel

Steiner, Haim Edri, Department of

Science Teaching; Dr. Avi Golan, Davidson

Institute

The challenge

However, in the world of research, interdisciplinary is “the name of the game”

At introductory level, Physics and Biology are generally taught as parallel disciplines.

Idealized, “clean” systems

1-2 homogenous bodies,

deterministic explanation

Biology

Complex, “messy” systems,

multi-particle,

statistical explanation

Physics

The program “Randomness and

Structure”, a 10-12th grade course for

high achievers in the Davidson

Institute, was developed with the aim

of bringing students closer to the

workshop of science…

Break the borders of content areas: physics in a chemical and biological context,Acquire a new language: the language of the “cooperative behavior” of multi-particle systems,Develop new skills: modeling complex phenomena using analyticand computational tools.

Prof. Samuel Safran, Department of Materials and

Interfaces; Prof. Edit Yerushalmi, Dr. Nava Schulman, Dr. Shelly

Livne, Dr. Elon Langbheim, Ariel

Steiner, Haim Edri, Department of

Science Teaching; Dr. Avi Golan, Davidson

Institute

Curriculum Overview:from Randomness to Structure…

Unit 2:Order in Nature

The dynamics of Structure formation:

Phase separation, wetting, dimers, polymers, micelles, membranes,

liquid crystals…

Unit 1:Randomness in Nature and the

nature of randomnessThe dynamics of thermal

motion governed phenomena:DiffusionOsmosis

…and from Mechanistic to Statistical approach

Unit 3:Treating complex systems with

probabilistic modelsFundamentals of Statistical

Thermodynamics

Q`

detailed elegant

Molecular Dynamics

Paradigm: Newton laws Hard body collisions

Prediction: full trajectories for system and solvent

particles

Brownian Motion

Paradigm: Newton laws friction and stochastic

forces.Prediction: trajectories for Brownian particle

Random WalkParadigm: Probabilistic

Prediction: system trajectories

Probabilistic modelParadigm:

probabilisticPrediction: microstates

probabilities at equilibrium

Understanding Randomness and Experiencing modeling…Four models for Diffusion

Future

Scaling up:• From introductory to advanced courses?• From traditional to open courses?• …

and more personally…How to keep a serious research activity besides educational engagements?