Biological physics in the life-sciences curriculum

A novel scaffolded active-learning pedagogy is presented that includes biological physics and computational modeling as its central theme. The approach starts in the introductory physics course with the "Marble Game," which is a kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of diffusion. Students first learn how to play the Marble Game in a hands-on activity. They produce a live graph of diffusion and discover that Fick's law of diffusion is explained by the random jumps in the game. In a guided-inquiry environment, students apply modeling techniques learned from the Marble Game to drug elimination; radioactive decay; osmosis; ligand binding; enzyme kinetics; the Boltzmann factor; phase equilibrium; random walks; membrane voltage, RC circuits and the action potential; and models of the spread of COVID-19. The materials engage students in computational activities using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations and finite difference methods. Students discover for themselves the consequences of model assumptions by comparing model predictions with experimental data using linear regression and non-linear least-squares fits. A central theme of the material is "thermodynamics from kinetics." It provides a scaffolded guided-inquiry environment that allows students to discover for themselves that science is an evidence-based endeavor with testable hypotheses that are supported by experiment. https://circle4.com/biophysics/