A Short-Term Physics Study Abroad Experience for General Education Student

Students looking for general education science courses often try to avoid those in physics. However, there are many concepts in physics that students ultimately enjoy learning about once in the course. One way to motivate students to take a conceptual physics course is to teach it while traveling through Italy on a short-term study abroad program. The conceptual laboratory science course described here has been taught four times since 2014 during “Maymester”, a three-week term between spring and summer semesters. The course uses the Galilean scientific revolutions during the Italian Renaissance as a starting point to understanding some of the major developments from classical mechanics to modern physics and the interactions between science and culture, including with respect to religion. Although this short-term study abroad course is in continual development, with changes to the itinerary and pedagogy each year, this presentation will give an overview of the trip, examples of laboratory experiments done while abroad, and a discussion of ways to keep non-science majors engaged in learning physics throughout the trip.