  Since 2010, the Yale physics department has offered a novel calculus-based
introductory physics for the life science (IPLS) sequence, that re-imagines the
IPLS syllabus to include a selection of biologically and medically relevant
topics, that are highly meaningful to its audience of biological science and
premedical undergraduates. The first semester, in particular, differs
considerably from traditional first-semester introductory physics. Here, we
highlight the novel aspects of Yale's first-semester course, and describe
student feedback about the course, including a comparison between how students
evaluate the course and how they evaluate courses with a traditional syllabus,
and how students' perceptions of the relevance of physics to biology and
medicine are affected by having taken the course.
