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.

Crossing Dimensions: A Math Odyssey into Cross Products

In groups, students learn about orthogonality and cross products by creating geometrical shapes.

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.

An Abundance of Bells

How to Write Reading Annotations

This activity helps students improve their quality of reading annotations using platforms like Perusall.

5 Senses Lab

Peer Review, Assessment & Feedback

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.

Call Me By My Organelle

In this single-class activity, students use cards to match cells with their organelles and functions.

Mine Ventilation Design

In this semester-long activity, students design and analyze mine ventilation systems as well as problem-solving skills.

Peer Review Calibration and Constructive Feedback Workshop

This activity's goal is to familiarize students with the peer review process and teach them how to accept peer criticism.

Experimental Design in Neurobiology

Mass of A Car

Students measure the mass of a car using diagrams to find equations of motion describing stages - acceleration & deceleration

Falling Object Tracker

Through this activity students analyze 1D kinematic problems & see examples of both constant velocity and acceleration.

Dart Gun Velocity

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

Nucleic Acids

This is an application-based activity that draws upon lesson material students have seen in previous classes.

Motion Diagrams

In this activity, students learn to create and interpret motion diagrams using a notebook file in interactive whiteboards.

Projectile Tracker

Students use the Tracker software to analyze projectile motion to determine which equations fit the plots produced.

Energy Tracker

Students learn to analyze data using spreadsheet programs and gain a deeper understanding of conservation of energy.