Active Learning Activities

Finding Catharsis in Film and Media

Students analyze a film or piece of media watched in the course using two concepts: climax and catharsis.

Decoding Decimal, Binary & Octal: Number System Adventures

In teams, students explore the binary number system and create parameters for an octal number system.

Mechanics in Motion: Iterative GIF Creation

In groups, students create GIFs to demonstrate and explain how mechanic principles apply in real-life scenarios.

To Pass or Not to Pass: Acting out Membrane Transport

Aim of the activity is to increase students’ understanding of molecules’ movement through the cell membrane.

Real-World Physics: Mini Video Projects

These mini-video projects require students to engage with course concepts and make connections to the world in which we live.

Can I Use the Internet?

Students learn to evaluate the credibility of online sources by evaluating the credibility of their research sources.

Low Stakes Debate

Students learn to see an issue from multiple perspectives and think critically about arguments from different perspectives.

Categorizing for Review

The aim of this single-class activity is to help students consolidate their knowledge and review concepts seen in class.

5 Senses Lab

The aim of this activity is to help students understand the rationalist concerns about the use of our experience and senses.

Live Demonstrations of Beats and Interference of Sound

In this activity, students learn to apply the principal of superposition to two new sound contexts.

Model Building

Students learn to build a conceptual model describing a situation involving an accelerating charged particle.

Circuits: Card Sorting With Multiple Representations (E&M)

Students develop their ability to reason about physics concepts in terms of multiple representations, beyond just equations.

Electrostatics: Card Sorting With Mutiple Representations (E&M)

Students associate configurations of charges with their characteristics from word, diagram & graph representations.

This Field Day of Mine

This activity takes a look at the environmental impact of mining and the quantification of environmental contaminants.

Name that Molecule! / Nommez cette Molécule!

Let’s Role Play the French Revolution!

Family HiStories of Migration

Students interview two members of their family to collect information about their family history and present it in class.

A Self Introduction to Nomenclature in Chemistry

In this activity, students are presented with the concepts of nomenclature in organic chemistry to encourage self learning.

Ctrl + Alt + Del: PTSD and Neuroplasticity

Kinematics Concept Mapping

Circus Launch Clicker Questions

Force Identification

Working in groups, students learn to create free body diagrams from more complex images.

What is Torque?

In this activity, students complete a reflective writing on torque, as well as peer review each others work.

Forces Scavenger Hunt

For this activity students take photos or videos exemplifying seven different situations involving force.