Relevance of computation in introductory physics courses for life science majors

A large majority of undergraduate students taking introductory physics are life science majors. Most of these students have little to no experience with computational modelling. Yet computational modelling is increasingly viewed as an important part of physics education and its use in physics courses has been growing. In this exploratory study, we investigate how students, particularly life science majors, perceive the relevance of computational modelling in an introductory physics course for life science (IPLS) at Michigan State University. The class integrates computational modelling activities with the use of VPython in Glowscript. Using Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory as a framework for relevance, we investigate the impact of such a curriculum on students' sense of relevance towards physics and computational modelling.