PHYSICALREVIEWSPECIALTOPICSPHYSICSEDUCATIONRESEARCH6,0201162010

Teachingphysicsinaphysiologicallymeaningfulmanner
MichaelPlomer,

1,2,

1
2
*KarstenJessen,1, GeorgiRangelov,
andMichaelMeyer

PhysikalischePraktika,LudwigMaximiliansUniversittMnchen,EdmundRumplerStrae9,80939Mnchen,Germany
2
PhysiologischesInstitut,LudwigMaximiliansUniversittMnchen,Pettenkoferstrae12,80336Mnchen,Germany

Received23April2010;published29September2010

Thelearningoutcomeofaphysicslaboratorycourseformedicalstudentswasexaminedinaninterdiscipli
naryfieldstudyanddiscussedfortheelectricalphysiologyPropagationofExcitationandNerveCells.At
theLudwigMaximiliansUniversityofMunichLMUatatimeabout300medicinestudentswereassessedin
twosuccessiveyears.Studentsfromthecontrolgroupworkedwithstandardexperiments,whilestudentsfrom
thetreatmentgroupperformednewlydevelopedaddresseespecificexperiments,designedtoguidestudents
totransferphysicsknowledgetophysiologicalproblems.Theassessmenttookplacewithinthelaboratory
courseonphysiology,afterthestudentshadfinishedtheirlaboratoryclassesinphysics,andconsistedofthe
constructionofaconceptmapwithadditionalmultiplechoicequestions.Theresultsshowedthatstandard
physics experiments are not adequate for teaching students to transfer physical principles to physiology.
Introducingnewaddresseespecificexperimentsenrichedthephysicslaboratorycoursebyimprovingstudent
attitudestowardphysicsanddemonstratingbetterabilityofstudentstorelateconceptsofphysicsandmedi
cine,andoveralltoimprovetheirunderstandingofthephysicstaughtinthecourse.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.6.020116

PACSnumbers:01.40.Fk,01.50.Pa,01.50.Qb

hand, the general

implementations of the
I.EDUCATIONALOBJECTIVESFORA
corresponding laboratory
exercises

contain
PHYSICSLABORATORYAT
cookbookrecipes,which
MEDICALSCHOOLS
often provide too little
A physics laboratory course is part of thephysicalunderstanding 12
premedical or medical curriculum at most . Despite these
universitiesormedicalschools.Advancedstudents shortcomings,

few
need a workingknowledge of physics, e.g., that attempts have been made
can be transferred to physiology. Such a tomodify
knowledgetransferisanessentialpreconditionfor
answering physiological questionswith physical
arguments.
Unfortunately physics laboratory courses are
usually taught by physicists without a medical
background, having more or less precise
conceptions of educational objectives for the
physics laboratory. A comparison of different
studies shows a variety of objectives desired by
physicists 1 3,anditcomestonosurprisethat
teachers of medicine emphasize only a few of
them 4.
To make matters worse, the educational
effectiveness of laboratory instruction often
remainsapointofcontention 5 7.Mismatches
betweentheteachersintentionsandthe students
learningoutcomehavebeenidentified 8,andin
addition, the differences in laboratory settings,
which were often poorly reported, make
comparisonsdifficult 9 .However,a thorough
developmentofdedicatedlaboratoryexperiments
canhaveapositiveimpactonselectededucational
goals 10.
Regarding laboratory experiments for medical
students,therearerequestsbymedicalteachersfor
the acquisition of both scientific skills and
physiologically relevant physics knowledge
insteadofpurebasicphysics 4, 11.Ontheother

physics education for

medicalstudents.Focusing
onthephysicslecturethe
inclusion of medical
applicationsandcontextual
problems into the lecture
meets the students re
quests for medical
relevance 13 . Similarly,
the physics laboratory
course can profit from
making the medical rel
evancemoreapparent 4.
Inthesestudiesmedical
topics or suggestions of
physiologists

were
incorporated into physics
courses. At most an im
provementinthestudents
attitude toward physics
was observed afterward,
though neither the impact
on later physiology
courses nor the general
learning outcome from a
medicalpointofviewwas
evaluated.
The present study
presentsa newdesignfor
experiments, emphasizing
thephysiologicalrelevance
ofselectedphysicaltopics.
Thesuccessintransferring
physics concepts learned
in two newly designed
laboratory experiments
was analyzed from a
physiologists point of
view.
II.DIFFERENT
DESIGNSFOR

EXPERIMENTSINTHE
PHYSICSLABORATORY

solely within the context

of physical problems or
applicationsFig. 1A.
A.Standardexperiments
In contrast, medical
Standard physics experiments for medicalteachers want students to
studentsareoftenareducedvariantofthosefor relateconceptsinphysics
physicistsandcanbefoundatmanyuniversitiesor to physiological questions
medicalschools.Inthese,studentsdealatlength Fig. 1B .However,this
and intensively with physical concepts and lawsis not exciplitly brought

into standard laboratories,

andsothetransfermustbe
done by the students
themselves. Because there
are generally no apparent
parallels between the
experimentalsetupandthe
medical tasks, the direct
transferisunlikelyFig. 1
C.

B.Addresseespecificexperiments

*michael.plomer@physik.unimuenchen.de

Theideaofanaddresseespecificphysicslaboratory
courseformedicalstudentswassystematicallyrealizedby

karsten.jessen@physik.unimuenchen.de

15549178/2010/62/02011610

0201161

2010TheAmericanPhysicalSociety

PLOMERetal.

PHYS.REV.STPHYS.EDUC.RES.6,0201162010

Happens within the

practical course

Physical
concepts
and laws

A
Physical
concepts
within
physical
questions

Has to be done
independently

Physical
concepts
within
medical
questions

FIG.1.Standardexperimentsgraywithinphysicalandmedical
domains.FordetailsconcerningthearrowsA,B,andCseetext.

Theyen et al. for the first time 4 . The experiences of

physicists, who taught medical students, and the wishes of
medicalteachersweretakenintoconsiderationwhiledesign
ingexperimentsthat addressedmedical examplesandappli
cations.Increasingstudentmotivationandmoreintensivework
withinthelaboratorywasreported.
Thesefindingsareinaccordancewiththeauthorsexpe
riences in the physics laboratory courses at the LMU. As
reinforcedbythemedicalteacherseducationalrequests,the
addresseespecific approach gives a methodical and didactic
frameworkfor developingnew experimentswithahighde
gree of medical relevance. Four criteria are suggested for
defining addresseespecific experiments. These criteria de
scribethesettingsappliedtothetreatmentgroupofthisstudy.
to medicine.
Additionally, the
descriptionofthe
Concepts and laws are explainedprocedure
intuitively in the laboratory manual, illustrates the
becausethestudentsneedtocometothe medical
laboratorywithanunderstandingoftheapplication of the
phenomenawithintheexperiments 14 .experiments.
Instead of calculusbased derivations of
equations or physical laws, these are
4.
motivated by proportionality thoughts,
Medica
dimensional analysis, analogies, and di
l
dacticapproaches.
viewpoi
1.Levelofdifficulty

2.Physiologywithinthelearning
material

nt
during
the
analysi
s

Eachchapterofthelaboratorymanual
is followed by selected medical or
biologicalexamples,whichreferdirectly After analysis
tothefundamentaltopicsofthischapter. of the measured
Thus relations to medicine are data, the results
consistently illustrated during theare discussed
with regard to
preparationphase.
their medical
relevance. In this
3.Theexperimentasamodelfor
context
physiologicalsituations

Meaningful experimental setups are

developedtovisualizedirect references

P
h
y
s
i
c
a
l

FIG. 2. Addresseespecific
experiments gray within
physical and medical domains.
For details concerning the
arrowsAandBseetext.

the values of physical

quantitiesareexaminedfrom
a physiological point of
c
view.
o
By changing the content
n
c
ofanexperimentfromapure
e
physical question to a both
p
physical and medical one,
t
s
thestudentsattitudetoward
physics improves 4 , but
a
n
additionallytheyalsoprofit
d
from synergistic effects as
l
learninginanewcontext.In
a
these experiments the
w
transfer of knowledge from
s
physicstophysiologyFig. 2
A
B ispart oftheconnection
B
oftheoryandpracticeFig. 2
A.Asthenewexperimental
setup tries to close the gap
Physical concepts within
between the physics ex
physical and medical
periment and the medical
questions
question, the students no
longer have to master the
transfer entirely by
themselves.
C.Laboratorythe concepts of
are examined in
alternatives voltage, potential,
the context of
electricity
forelectricity current,resistance,
experiments in a
experiments electricinsulation,
physics labora
and capacitance.
Initially,
tory.Thedifferent
These concepts
detailed
designs of the
arethebiophysical
discussions took
corresponding
place betweenbasis for the
experiments are
conductance

of
teachers

of
explained within
ion

channels,

the
physics and
two selected
physiology. Thecapacity and the
examples.
most tightlyresistance of a
coupledproblemsmembraneandthe
1.
between physicsinsulation by
Resist
and physiologymyelin. In physi
ance

the
involve electricityology,
ofan
and nerve cells.excitation of
electri
According tomembranes,action
c
medical teachers,potentials and
condu
students haveelectrotonic,
ctor
manyproblemsincontinuous and
In a standard
understanding thissaltatoric
experiment
the
highly complexpropagation of
lengthdependence
topic, thus weexcitations are
oftheresistanceof
focused on thisdiscussed 15 18
an

electric
theme.
.
conductor is
In physics, Allthephysical
explored via
students becomeconcepts
measurements of
acquainted withmentioned above

the voltage drop along the conductor.bridge. In an

ThisisthebasisforPoggendorfsmethodaddresseespecific
of compensation or the Wheatstoneexperiment the
0201162

resistances ofandcross
conductors with
different lengths

TEACHINGPHYSICSINAPHYSIOLOGICALLY

PHYS.REV.STPHYS.EDUC.RES.6,0201162010

assistedbytwotutors.

FIG.3.Scheduleforthefirstpartofthethirdsemester.

sectionsaremeasureddirectlyandtheresultsarediscussedin
the context of modeling a nerve cell. In this case the
physiological utility describing the nerve cell as a long cy
lindricalconductorisexplicitlydiscussed.
2.Capacitor

Onthebasisofaserialcircuitofaresistorandacapacitor,
thefrequencydependenceofthereactancecanbequantified,
andwiththeadditionofaninductivity,theresonanceofanLC
oscillator can be observed. In the addresseespecific
experiment, the charging process of a parallel RC circuit is
measured,andthetimeconstantisdeterminedasaparameter
of the cell membrane. The meaning of with respect to the
propagationspeedofexcitationisdiscussed,focusingalsoon
theeffectofavaryingcapacitance.
Inthisway,twostandardexperimentswerereplacedbytwo
newly designed addresseespecific experiments, which also
meetthesuggestionsoftheAssociationofAmericanMedical
Colleges 11.Theexamplesgivenaboveareembeddedinthe
newlaboratory.Moredetailswillbegiveninaforthcoming
paper.

61. STUDYDESIGN
1. CurriculumattheLudwigMaximiliansUniversity
ofMunich

AttheLMUthecoursesinphysicsandinphysiologyare
taughtinparallelduringthethirdandthefourthsemesterofa
foursemestersequence.Figure 3 showsthescheduleforthe
first part of the third semester with its focus on neuro
physiology.Except forthelecturesall courseactivitiestake
placein40classesof20studentseach,intowhichthestudents
aredividedrandomly.
Thelecturesinphysicstakeplaceinthefirstweek.Inthe
followingfiveweeksthestudentsperformandaretestedon
five physics experiments. Students receive an instructional
textbookforthelaboratorycourse 19,inwhichallessential
backgroundinformation,theprocedureandtheanalysisofthe
experimentsaredescribedindetail.Thestudentsrequireno
additional material beyond the instructional text containing
about12pagesperexperiment.
Studentsmustprepareathomeandtakeashortoraltestat
the beginning of each experiment. Each laboratory lasts for
threehours,inwhichstudentsperformexperimentsinteamsof
twoandanalyzetheirmeasurements.Eachclassofstudentsis

A practical class in
physiology 20 lasts 4.5 h
and is accompanied by a
prepractical discussion class
1.5hbeforeandadebriefing
1.5 h after each laboratory
session. Lectures and
seminars in physiology take
place during each week.
Except for the lectures in
physics and in physiology
attendance is compulsory.
Because of the timing
between physics and
physiology

students
generally are exposed to
certainconceptsandlawsof
physics a few days before
they need exactly these in
their practical course in
physiology.
B.
Research
questions

Until 2008/09, the

laboratory courseinphysics
contained only standard
experiments, especially two
experiments in electricity
duringthethirdsemester.A
few days later the students
usually attended a
prepractical discussion class
for physiology on excitable
structures Fig. 3 . In this
class a medical teacher
repeated the relevant
biophysical basics. The
students were left to their
own devices to synthesize
the physics and physiology
concepts Sec. II C .
Afterward students should
have understood enough to
be able to gain further
knowledge from the
laboratory class in
physiology. This led to the
followingresearchquestions:
RQ1Arestudentsableto
relate the concepts of
physics, which they learned
within the standard
experiments,toconceptsof
physiology without outside
intervention?
RQ2 Can a more
profound understanding and
a better transfer of

knowledgebeachievedbyaddresseespecificexperiments? outcomeandwerecompared
Althoughthestudentslearnthesamephysicalconceptsin to the modified laboratory,
standard and addresseespecific experiments, they no longer whichintroducedaddressee
dealwithpurelyphysicalapplicationsandproblemsinthe specificexperimentsintothe
latter case. Thus a physics teacher might have reservations physics course. The new
aboutintroducingaddresseespecificexperiments.
experiments contained the
RQ3Areaddresseespecificexperimentsperformedatthe same physical concepts as
expenseofsubstanceandstandardsofastandardlaboratory the standard experiments,
courseinphysics?
albeitinadifferentcontext,
and were similar to the
remaining

laboratory
C.Methodology
experiments with regard to
Theresearchquestionswereaddressedinafieldstudy.The difficultyandtimerequired.
expectations and needs of the medical teachers for theA detailed article on an
physiologicalexperimentexcitablestructuresweremapped additional evaluation of the
in newly developed assessment instruments. The standarddifficulty,requiredtime,and
experiments were examined with respect to the learning

medical relevance of the

experimentsisinprogress.
The

remaining
experiments of the physics
laboratory course and also
the lectures, seminars,
prepractical discussion
classes, and physiology
laboratories were not
modified. Students of the
winter semester 2008/09
standard experiments will
subsequently be referred to
asthecontrolgroupCG,and
the students of the winter
semester2009/10

0201163

PLOMERetal.
Construct a concept map, using the following concepts.
Membrane, Myelin, Resistor, Electric Insulator, Ion Channel, Capacitor, RC-element

D
RC
element

Capacitor

Myelin

H
J
L

Electric
Insulator C

K
N

B
O

I
Membrane

Resistor
F

Ion
Channel

FIG.4.Anexpertsmap,containing19propositions.

addresseespecific experiments will be referred to as the

treatmentgroupTG.16classesperyearwerechosenfor
thisstudy,sothateachsampleconsistedofabout300stu
dents.
Theassessmentwasadministeredatthebeginningofthe
experiment excitable structures within the physiology
laboratory. Organizational restrictions precluded a pretest
beingperformed.Thetemporaldistancebetweentheassess
mentandthefinalexamsofthissemesterwasatleasteleven
daysforallstudents.Thatway,theknowledgeassessedwas
that,which thestudentshadacquired duringtheirregular
coursesbutnotwhilepreparingindependentlyfortheirfinal
exams.Forthatreasonadelayedposttestwasnotusedfor
thisstudy.Theassessmentconsistedoftheconstructionofa
conceptmap 21 andsomeadditionalmultiplechoiceMC
questions.
D.Assessmentdesign

Inthefirstpartoftheassessment,studentswereaskedto
constructaconceptmap.Conceptmappinghasbeenestab
lishedasadiagnostictooltoassessthedeclarativeknowl
edgeofalargenumberofstudents 22.Thismethodhasa
lowdegreeofsuggestivepower 23.Asstudentswereasked

toconstructthemapfromscratch,thetestinstrumentpro
videdanintuitiveaccesstofragmentsofknowledge,heldby
thestudents,becausetheycouldgiveanswersaboutsingle
propositions,eveniftheentiresubjectwasnotunderstoodin
detail.Furthermore,misconceptionscouldbeidentified 24,
25.
Studentswereaskedtousethefollowingconcepts:mem
brane, myelin, resistor, electric insulator, ion channel,
capacitor, and RC element. The positions of membrane,
myelinandresistorwerefixed,whilestudentshadtoarrange
allotherconceptsandphrasethepropositions.Anexperts
mapisshowninFig. 4,thecorrespondingpropositionsare
giveninTable I.
ThesecondpartoftheassessmentcontainedelevenMC
questions. The content of the questions is based on the
countrywideexaminationinpreclinicalsciencessetbythe
InstituteforMedicalandPharmaceuticalExaminationQues
tions IMPP 26 . All questions were newly designed and
addressedthesametopic,focusingonconceptualandquan

PHYS.REV.STPHYS.EDUC.RES.6,0201162010
TABLEI.AnswerstotheexpertsmapinFig. 4.
Purephysicspropositions
A
B
C
D
E

AresistorispartofanRCelement
Anelectricinsulatorhasanalmostinfinite
resistance
Acapacitorhasafrequencydependentresistance
AcapacitorispartofanRCelement
Acapacitorcontainsanelectricinsulator
Puremedicalpropositions

F
G
H

Amembranecontainsionchannels
Myelincoversthemembraneofnervecells
Myelinblockstheionchannels
Transferpropositions

I
J
K
L
M
N
O

Amembranehasaspecificelectricresistance
Amembranehaspropertiesofacapacitor
Amembraneisanelectricinsulator
Themembraneistheelectricinsulatorin
anRCelement
Anionchannelhasaspecificresistance.
Theionchannelismodeledbyan
RCelementsresistor
Themembranescapacitorischargedby

P
Q
R
S

ionchannels
Myelinhasahighresistance
Myelinisanelectricinsulator
Myelinreducesthecapacityofthemembrane
Myelinreducesthetimeconstantof
theRCelement

titativeunderstanding.Theywereintendedtochecktheva
lidityoftheconceptmaps.
Theitemdifficultylevel P,thepointbiserialcoefficient
rpbi,andthediscriminationindexDwerecalculatedwiththe
assessmentresultsbeingconsideredasaninternalcriterion
forthelatter.Subsequentlyoneoftheelevenquestionswas
excluded.TheremainingMCquestionsaregiveninTable
II.AdditionallytheKuderRichardsonreliabilityindex rtest,
CronbachsandFergusonswereevaluated.Thevaluesfor
thetenquestionsaregiveninTables IIIand IV.Allofthem
areinanacceptablerange 27 29.
Whereasconceptmappingasassessmentinstrumentwas
unknowntoallstudentsassessedexcept one,all medical
studentswereveryfamiliarwithmultiplechoicequestions.
E.Assessmentprocedure

The assessment development was followed by a trial

phase,inwhichsevenmedicalstudentsperformedbothparts
oftheassessment,shortlyafterpassingtheircoursesinphys
icsandphysiology.Inpreparingfortheirexamsinbothsub
jects,theyhadacquiredandsynthesizedtheknowledgenec

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PHYS.REV.STPHYS.EDUC.RES.6,0201162010

TABLEII.MCquestionsusedintheassessment.Thecorrectanswerisprintedinitalics,thefractionofcorrectanswersisgiveneachfor
controlgroupandtreatmentgroupinbrackets.ForallquestionstheanswerIdontknowwasgiveninaddition.
Inwhichwaycananervecellsmembranenotbemodeled?
RCelement
Parallelcircuitofresistorandcapacitor
Serialcircuitofresistorandcapacitor
Thevelocityofelectrotonicpropagationofexcitationisafunctionofthefollowingphysicalquantity
Lengthconstant
Timeconstant
Permeability
Amembranehaspropertiesofacapacitor.Whichstatementisnotcorrect?
Intraandextracelluarisequaltoacapacitorsconductors
Thedoublelipidlayerisanelectricinsulator.
Thehydrophilicheadsonthemembranesoutside
correspondtoacapacitorsconductors,thehydrophobic
bodyinbetweenistheelectricinsulator.
Becauseofmyelintheresistanceofamembrane...
...increases.
...decreases.
...staysthesame.
Becauseofmyelinthecapacityofamembrane...
...increases.
...decreases.
...staysthesame.
Becauseofmyelinthelengthresistanceofanaxon...
...increases.
...decreases.
...staysthesame.
Becauseofmyelintheleakagecurrent...
...increases.
...decreases.
...staysthesame.
Becauseofmyelinthetimeconstant...
...increases.
...decreases.
...staysthesame.
Becauseofmyelinthelengthconstant...
...increases.
...decreases.
...staysthesame.
HowdoesanactionpotentialpropagatebetweenthenodesofRanvier?
Saltatoric
Electrotonic
Continuous

(0.32/0.92)

(0.21/0.56)

(0.49/0.73)

(0.45/0.86)

(0.25/0.77)

(0.37/0.57)

(0.83/0.95)

(0.28/0.50)

(0.14/0.45)

(0.16/0.47)
020116
5

PLOMERetal.

PHYS.REV.STPHYS.EDUC.RES.6,0201162010
TABLEIII.Itemanalysis:Mean M andstandarddeviation SD
fortenMCquestionswithitemdifficultylevel P,pointbiserial
coefficientrpbiandinternaldiscriminationindexD.
Itemstatistics
P

pbi

SD

Range

Desiredvalues

0.51

0.18

0.30,0.89

0.30,0.90

0.45
0.61

0.09
0.14

0.30,
0.31,

0.61
0.82

0.20
0.30

essarytoperformwellontheassessment.Foreachstudent
theassessmentwasaccompaniedbyaninterviewtoclarify
theMCquestionsandonhowtoproperlyconstructacon
cept map. This resulted in minor adaptations of the final
version.
Theassessmentwasgivenatthebeginningofthephysi
ologylaboratoryonnervecells.Thedesigneroftheassess
mentMPgaveabriefintroduction,outlininghowtocreatea
conceptmap.Thestudentsweregiven30mintocomplete
theassessment.Toavoidcopyingbothpartsoftheassess
mentweredistributedandcollectedsuccessively.Themedi
calteachersensuredthatstudentsworkedalone.Discussions
withstudentsindicatethatnoneofthemanticipatedtheas
sessment.
Inthefollowingallconceptmapswereratedbyoneof
theauthorsMP.Arelationalscoringmethodwaschosenbe
causeholisticorstructuralapproacheshavealowerreliabil
ity 30, 31.Thescoringmethodwassimplifiedbyassigning
the same weight to each proposition, because the simple
structureofmostofthepropositionshardlyallowsfurther
discrimination.
Inthiswayscores,S,werecalculatedforeachstudentby
countingtheparticularnumberofcorrectlyphrasedproposi

TABLE V. Admissioncutoff gradesfor studentsbeginning a

medicalcourseinMunichinthelastfiveyears.Gradesaregivenin
theGermanstyle:1highestto6lowest;passinggrades14.In
selectionroundI20%oftheavailableplacesareassignedsolelyby
thestudentsgrades.Thenext60%ofplacesareawardedinround
IIonthebasisofgradesplusadditionalcriteria.InroundIIIthe
final20% ofplaces areawarded onthe basisof gradesand the
durationofthewaitingperiod.
I

II

III

Winter0506
Winter0607

1.2
1.1

1.6
2.2

4.2
1.5

CGwinter200708
TGwinter200809
Winter0910

1.0
1.1
1.1

1.5
1.5
1.5

2.6
2.6
3.5

6. Assessmentqualitycriteria

finalaverageschoolgrade 32.Admissionisrestrictednu
merusclausus,andthecutoffgradesofthelastfiveannual
intakesareshowninTable V.Theintakeyearsfromwhich
thestudygroupswereobtainedareshowninbold.Thereis
no evidence suggesting a performance difference between
thetwoyears.Whenthestudentsreachedthethirdsemester,
theyweredividedinto40classesof20studentseach.This
selectionwasrandom.Insummary,comparabilitycanbeas
sumed, because of the randomly selected sample of two
similaryears.
b.Assessmentprocedure.Leadinguptotheassessment,
all studentsweregiventhe sameinstructional information
andthesameamountoftime.Inbothyearstheelapsedtime
betweenthelaboratorycoursesinphysics,theprepractical
discussionclass,andtheassessmentweresimilarTable VI.
Inbothyearsthesamephysicsandmedicineconceptswere
taughtwithintheprepracticaldiscussionclass.Allstudents
withoneexceptionwerenovicesinconceptmapping;they
wereunawareofthisassessmentandhadneverseenacon
ceptmaponthistopicbefore.

1. Objectiveness

2.Reliability

1. ComparabilityofCGandTG.Becauseoftheabsence
ofapretest,thequalityofthestudentsofbothyearsmustbe
aboutthesame,otherwisetheassessmentresultsbycontrol
andtreatmentgroupswillbedifficulttocompare.Medical
students at the University of Munich are admitted after a
seriesofselectionproceduresthreerounds,basedontheir

Toensurethereliabilityoftheevaluation,77randomly
selectedconceptmapswereratedindependentlybythede
signer of the assessment MP , a physiologist MM and a
physicistKJ.Eachhasexpertknowledgewithintheirre
spectivefields.Apartfromsomebasicinformationabout

tionsof theconcept map. Smedicine represents puremedicine,

Sphysics purephysicsand Stransfer interdisciplinaryknowledge.
ThescoresSmapandSMC,respectively,correspondtothesum

ofallcorrectlyphrasedpropositionsintheconceptmapand
ofallcorrectanswerstotheMCquestions.

TABLEIV.Assessmentanalysis:Measuredanddesiredvalues
for the KuderRichardson reliability index rtest, Cronbachs and
Fergusons.

test

Assessmentstatistics

Desiredvalues

0.80
0.71
0.98

0.70
0.60
0.90

TABLEVI.Averagetimeinterval M indaysbetweentheas
sessmentandthephysicsexperimentsElectricity1,Electricity
2andtheprepracticaldiscussionclassfortheclassesofthecon
trolgroupN=16andthetreatmentgroupN=16.

CG

Electricity1
Electricity2
Prepracticaldiscussionclass

TG

SD

SD

10.7
2.9
2.8

1.5
1.6
1.4

12.0
4.1
3.4

1.6
1.6
1.8
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TEACHINGPHYSICSINAPHYSIOLOGICALLY
TABLE VII. Means and standard deviations of Cohens for
differentcorrectors.wascalculatedforallpropositionsN=19.
M

SD

MPKJ

0.71
0.71

0.18
0.18

MMKJ

0.62

0.24

MPMM

concept mapping, no further instructions were given nor

werethereanyconcludingdiscussions.Bythestandardsof
LandisandKoch 33 therewassubstantialagreementbe
tweenallthreeevaluationsTable VII.
3.Validity

Conceptmappingisachallengingassessmentinstrument,
becausestudentshavetoarrangetheconceptsandphrasethe
propositions themselves. Since students might have
problemswithverbalizationorlosetheirwaywithintheir
conceptmap,conceptmappingprobablyunderestimatesthe
studentsknowledge.AtthesametimethescoreoftheMC
questionsmightbetoohighbecauseoftheguessprobability.
Toensurethevalidityoftheassessment,thescoreswithin
theconceptmap, Smap,andtheMCquestions, SMC,were
compared.ThecorrelationofPearsonrwithlevelofsignifi
cance p waslarge r =0.71, p 0.001 34 .Amoredetailed
lookattheindividualgroupsshowedadifference.Thecor
relationwassmallforthecontrolgroup
rCG=0.29,p
rTG=0.60,p
0.001andlargeforthetreatmentgroup
0.001.
CG

Forthecontrolgrouptheresultingmean,SMC=3.45,was
closetothevalueof3.33stemmingfromtheguessprobabil
ity.Thereforethelowervalueforthecontrolgroupscorre
lation could be explained. Altogether, these values were
withinthetypicalrange 35.Onehastokeepinmind,that
conceptmappingissensitivetootherabilitiesincomparison
withconventionalperformancetests 36.
IV.RESULTSANDDISCUSSION
A.Assessmentresults

Afterratingallconceptmaps,therelativefrequencywas
calculated for every proposition. The resulting values are
presentedinTable VIIIandillustratedinFig. 5.Inthefol
lowing, the different scores mentioned above were
calculated for every map. The means M and standard
deviations SD are shown in Table IX. After testing
variances for equality Levene Ftest , a Ttest or,
alternatively, a Welchtest for independent samples was
performedandCohensd 37wascalculated.

B.Knowledgetransferwithinstandardexperiments

Figure 6 showsaconceptmap,whichistypicalforthe
studentsofthecontrol group.Thescore Smap ofthismap
matches the mean M =5.08 and most frequently phrased
propositionswereplotted.Thisdemonstratesalackofnet
workstructureandabadlinkagebetweensomeconcepts.In

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S

ResistorRCelement
ResistorElectricinsulator
ResistorCapacitor
CapacitorRCelement
CapacitorElectricinsulator
MembraneIonchannels
MembraneMyelin
MyelinIonchannels
MembraneResistor
MembraneCapacitor
MembraneElectricinsulator
MembraneRCelement
IonchannelResistor
IonchannelRCelement
IonchannelCapacitor
MyelinResistor
MyelinElectricinsulator
MyelinCapacitor
MyelinRCelement

CG

TG

0.171
0.181
0.413
0.181
0.114
0.930
0.463
0.098
0.376
0.376
0.174
0.087
0.251
0.010
0.010
0.192
0.885
0.160
0.010

0.832
0.237
0.087
0.819
0.421
0.920
0.700
0.254
0.516
0.774
0.341
0.557
0.798
0.199
0.028
0.645
0.944
0.394
0.111

particularthe RC elementwasnotconnectedtoothercon
ceptsbyalmost80%ofthestudentsofthecontrolgroup.

C.Knowledgetransferwithinaddresseespecificexperiments

Arepresentativeconceptmapforstudentsinthetreatment
groupisgiveninFig. 7.Thismapischaracterizedbya

1.00
cy

TABLEVIII.Relativefrequencyofcorrectlyphrasedproposi
tionsforcontrolgroupN=287andtreatmentgroupN=287.

Thescore Stransfer representstheinterdisciplinaryknowl

edge.ItsmaximumpossiblevaluewasStransfer=11.There
sultingmeanof2.54SD=1.29demonstratedthatstudents
werenotabletoconnecttheconceptsofphysicsandphysi
ologywithinthestandardexperiments.
ThereforeRQ1couldbeanswerednegatively:
Studentsarenotabletorelatephysicalandmedicalcon
cepts,whichtheylearnedinthestandardexperiments.

R elativ efre quen

PHYS.REV.STPHYS.EDUC.RES.6,0201162010

.80
.60
.40
.20
.00

ABCDEFGHI J KLMNOPQRS

Proposition of the concept map

Control group
Treatment group

FIG.5.Relativefrequencyofcorrectlyphrasedpropositionsfor
CGandTG.Propositionslabelscorrespondtotheexpertsmap
Table Iand VIII.
0201167

PLOMERetal.

PHYS.REV.STPHYS.EDUC.RES.6,0201162010
TABLEIX.MeansMandstandarddeviationsSDofdifferentscoresforcontrolgroupN=287and
treatmentgroupN=287withlevelofsignificancep.001andCohensd.
CG

TG

SD

SD

physics

5.08
3.45
1.48
1.06

2.01
1.69
0.65
1.04

9.58
6.72
1.86
2.40

2.90
1.94
0.75
1.10

1.80
1.80
0.55
1.25

transfer

2.54

1.29

5.32

2.00

1.65

map

S
MC
S
medicine
S

circuit of a resistor and a

capacitor, whereas the
distinctivelyhighernetworkstructureandmuchbetterlinkage
capacitive

reactance
ofallconcepts.
measurement wasnolonger
All the scores Table IX increased highly significantly,partofthemodifiedphysics
whichresultedinverystrongeffectsizes 37 inmostcases.laboratory course. As
Theresultsfortheinterdisciplinaryknowledge,represented
expected, this changed the
bythemeanof Stransfer,improvedfrom 2.54forthecontrol rates of the different
propositions.

While
groupto5.32withastandarddeviationofSD=2.00forthe
resistorcapacitor
treatmentgroup.ThisisillustratedinFig. 8.
decreasedbyafactorof4.7,
TakentogetherRQ2canbeansweredaffirmatively:
thepropositionsresistorRC
Addresseespecificphysicsexperimentsareaneffective
element and capacitorRC
waytohelpstudentstounderstandphysicsandphysiology.
element increased by
factors of 4.9 and 4.5,
respectively. This relative
D.Physicsknowledge
change was not surprising.
Withrespecttopurephysicspropositions,theevaluationofBut the differences in the
theconceptmapsshowsanincreaseinthemeanofthe
absolute percentages were
scoreSphysicsfrom1.06forthecontrolgroupSD=1.04to2.40evengreater:Morethan80%
forthetreatmentgroupSD=1.10.Althoughthisisa
of the students of the
highly significant improvement with a strong effect size, atreatment group phrased the
moredetailedexaminationoftheindividualpropositionsTable propositions about the
VIIIisnecessarytoanswerRQ3.
assembling of an RC
Studentsofthecontrolgroupmeasuredthefrequencyde element, which was about
pendence of the capacitive reactance. The correspondingtwice as frequent as
propositionresistorcapacitorwasphrasedby41.3%,whileresistorcapacitor in the
thepercentagesoftheremainingpropositionsarehalfashighcontrol group. Furthermore,
and all below 20%. Within the addresseespecific ex thevaluesfortheremaining
periments,theexperimentalsetupwasreplacedbyaparallel pure physics propositions
improved,eventhoughthey
were not specifically
Construct a concept map, using the following concepts.
emphasized in the experi
Membrane, Myelin, Resistor, Electric Insulator, Ion Channel, Capacitor, RC-element
ments.
The

additional
combination

between
RC
concepts of physics and
element
Myelin
medicine andaccording to
II
physics tutorsan increas
ing motivation seemed to
Ion
Electric
supportenhancedlearningof
Channel
Insulator
pure physical concepts and
III
laws.
I
Basedonthedataofthis
Capacitor
study RQ3 could be
IV
V
answerednegatively:
Resistor
Membrane
Addresseespecific
experiments are not
necessarilyperformedatthe
expense of substance and

standards of a physics
laboratorycourse.
E.Experiencefromthe
laboratorysdaily
routine

From the students point

of view, the physics
laboratory course with
standardexperimentshasno
medicalrelevance.
Construct a concept map,
using the following
concepts.
Membrane, Myelin, Resistor, Electric
Insulator, Ion Channel, Capacitor, RCelement

My
eli
n

IX
X

VII

Capacitor

Electric
Insulator
V

RC
element

VI

IV

Membrane
II

Ion
Channel

VIII

Resistor
III

according to their
frequency

of
FIG.6.Aconceptmap,representativeforoccurrenceIV.
thelevelofknowledgeofthecontrolgroup.
The propositions are labeled downward
0201168

the level of knowl

FIG. 7. Aedge of the
concept

map,treatment group.
representative forThepropositionsare

labeled downward
according to their
frequency

of
occurrenceIX.

TEACHINGPHYSICSINAPHYSIOLOGICALLY

PHYS.REV.STPHYS.EDUC.RES.6,0201162010

R elative
freq

uen cy

ofview.Standardandnewly
developedaddresseespecific
experimentswerecompared.
.30
In the first step of this
study,wesawthat,asarule,
standard experiments were
not sufficient for teaching
.20
physics in a physiologically
meaningful

manner.
Although students of both
years learned the same
.10
physicsconceptsindifferent
courses, students of the
control groupwerenotable
torelateconceptsofphysics
.00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
andmedicine.
Number of correct transfer propositions
New addresseespecific
experiments on electricity
Control group
were designed. They
Treatment group
contained the same physics
FIG. 8. Distribution of Stransfer for control group and treatmentconcepts but were closely
group.
connected to medicine and
addressed these physics
Thesecomplaintswerereportedperiodicallybymembersofconcepts within a physical
the physics faculty, who supervised the experiments. Tutorsandmedicalcontent.
werethusoccupiedbystudentmotivationandlaboratoryam This study demonstrated
bienceimprovementinsteadofassistingduringexperimenta that introducing addressee
specificexperimentswasan
tionandexplainingphysicalcontexts.
This situation changed totally after introducing the new effective means of assisting
experiments on electricity. Although the workload in the students in understanding
laboratory was not less, there was a higher morale on thephysiology, giving them a
studentspart.Tutorsreportedthestudentsopinionthatthe physical basis for learning
physics laboratory was not as bad as their fellows students about neural functions. Not
claimedandthatstudentsprofitedfromtheirphysicscourseforonly did students, being
thefirsttime.Additionally,livelydiscussionstookplaceon exposed to the addressee
specific

experiments,
physicalaspectsofthestudentsphysiologicaltextbooks.
achieve higher scores in
V.CONCLUSIONANDIMPLICATIONS
transfer questions, they also
got higher scores in pure
Inthisstudythelearningeffectivenesswithinthephysics physicsquestions.According
laboratorycoursewasexaminedfromaphysiologistspoint tothefeedbackofthetutors,

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