An uncommon case of relevance through everyday experiences
written by
Abhilash Nair and Vashti Sawtelle
We present the experiences of Sam, who represents a contrasting case in the context of students commonly reporting that physics is not connected to their everyday life experiences. Sam is majoring in the life sciences and articulates moments where she uses physics to reason through everyday phenomena. Sam is a contrasting case for two reasons: (1) her attitudes and beliefs contrast with those of many other life science students who happily report never thinking of physics outside the classroom, and (2) whose abilities to see physics around her directly challenge a large body of work around the capability of life science students in perceiving the relevance of physics. We explore the ways in which courses can support students like Sam to find physics relevant to their everyday experiences and also describe areas of Sam's life outside the classroom that have contributed to her sense that physics is relevant to her everyday life.
Physics Education Research Conference 2018
Part of the PER Conference series Washington, DC: August 1-2, 2018
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![]() <a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=14830">Nair, Abhilash, and Vashti Sawtelle. "An uncommon case of relevance through everyday experiences." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2018, Washington, DC, August 1-2, 2018.</a>
![]() A. Nair and V. Sawtelle, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2018, Washington, DC, 2018, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14830&DocID=4977).
![]() A. Nair and V. Sawtelle, An uncommon case of relevance through everyday experiences, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2018, Washington, DC, 2018, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14830&DocID=4977>.
![]() Nair, A., & Sawtelle, V. (2018, August 1-2). An uncommon case of relevance through everyday experiences. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2018, Washington, DC. Retrieved May 2, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14830&DocID=4977
![]() Nair, Abhilash, and Vashti Sawtelle. "An uncommon case of relevance through everyday experiences." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2018, Washington, DC, August 1-2, 2018. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14830&DocID=4977 (accessed 2 May 2025).
![]() Nair, Abhilash, and Vashti Sawtelle. "An uncommon case of relevance through everyday experiences." Physics Education Research Conference 2018. Washington, DC: 2018. of PER Conference. 2 May 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14830&DocID=4977>.
![]() @inproceedings{
Author = "Abhilash Nair and Vashti Sawtelle",
Title = {An uncommon case of relevance through everyday experiences},
BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2018},
Address = {Washington, DC},
Series = {PER Conference},
Month = {August 1-2},
Year = {2018}
}
![]() %A Abhilash Nair %A Vashti Sawtelle %T An uncommon case of relevance through everyday experiences %S PER Conference %D August 1-2 2018 %C Washington, DC %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14830&DocID=4977 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2018 %O August 1-2 %O application/pdf ![]() %0 Conference Proceedings %A Nair, Abhilash %A Sawtelle, Vashti %D August 1-2 2018 %T An uncommon case of relevance through everyday experiences %B Physics Education Research Conference 2018 %C Washington, DC %S PER Conference %8 August 1-2 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14830&DocID=4977 Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.
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