Physics teachers around the world are trying to create classroom environments that would allow life science students to be more intrinsically motivated in their work. These efforts include, among others, matching classroom activities to students’ interests as well as structurally variable activities to match different student abilities. While physics instruction at the Université libre de Bruxelles also strives to make classes more relevant for life science students, two stimulation approaches will be presented here in detail. These include the in-class motivation using historical examples of physicians’ role in physics development and the small group work outside of class on physics problems that have engaging, motivating, and challenging biomedical headings.
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