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.

Running on Water: Activating Prior Knowledge of Static Equilibrium

Students watch, discuss, then analyze the veracity of a video in which hydrophobic shoes allow people to run on water.

Decoding Decimal, Binary & Octal: Number System Adventures

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

Love at First Insight: Crafting Dating Profiles for Therapeutic Techniques

Students create a dating profile that highlights the key feature of the major Abnormality Models in Psychology.

Group Problem Solving with Show and Tell

Students learn to build a conceptual model describing a Mechanics-based situation and practice mathematical problem-solving.

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.

Solving World Issues: One Smartphone at a Time

The purpose of this activity is to familiarize students with the potential of online tools for problem-solving.

Durkheim Suicide: Functionalist and Conflict Theory

Why Health & Safety is Essential to Recreation Leadership

Forget the Math! Draw Pictures to Learn the Wave Theory of Light

Family Feud

National Building Code Jeopardy

Bottle Rocket Tracker

In this activity, students learn to analyze and fit equations of motion to raw data using video and Tracker software.

Dart Gun Velocity

In this activity, students will find the muzzle velocity of a foam dart gun and predict its maximum range.

Forces Scavenger Hunt

Area Under the Curve