Calls to reform the introductory science curriculum have come from the National Research Council's Bio2010 report, Association of American Medical Colleges, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Scientific Foundations for Future Physicians. A well defined set of competencies that students should possess when they enter medical school have been articulated. These competencies are expected to replace the current premed requirements for a defined set of introductory courses and to drive the upcoming M5 revision of the MCAT exam. Introductory physics courses have long provided students with their first exposure to a model-driven view of the natural world, and are frequently the first science course a student takes at the college level. Few physics departments are prepared to address this changing curricular landscape. The Introductory Physics for the Life Science (IPLS) project is bringing together faculty from a variety of college and university types, faculty who have begun to implement reforms, and faculty from the life and medical sciences, to generate an initial understanding of what is known and what needs to be done. The workshop will set in place a framework to begin a much-needed reform of introductory physics courses, to alert physics departments nationwide for the need for dialog, and to provide a platform for that dialog.
