Life Science Students’ Conceptions about Fluid Statics

This work is part of a multi-institution collaboration developing the Fluids Conceptual Evaluation (FCE), a fair, valid, and reliable research-based standardized conceptual learning assessment (SCLA) on  fluids (both statics and dynamics) for Introductory Physics for Life Science (IPLS) courses.  In 2021-2023 our group conducted 73 structured interviews at 10 diverse institutions, asking students to answer a subset of our questions and to explain their reasoning.  When coding those interviews, we identified several difficulties IPLS students have with fluids topics.  This poster will highlight a few of the difficulties identified involving fluid statics topics such as hydrostatic pressure and Archimedes’ Principle.  IPLS instructors interested in serving as a pilot test site for the FCE assessment should contact DJ Wagner (wagnerdj@gcc.edu).  Project supported by NSF 2021273, 2021059, 2021261, and 2021224.