Physics 131 is the first semester of introductory algebra-based physics. The students who take this course are predominately life-science majors with a significant contribution of students from the UMass Building and Construction Technology program.
While Physics 131 has always been at the leading edge of implementing research-based teaching at UMass, beginning in the Fall 2015 semester, a concerted effort was made to convert all sections of this course away from a lecture-based course into a TBL course based upon the literature. By the Spring 2016 semester, a strong foundation for the course had emerged which is providing the foundation for future development.