Active Learning Activities

Group Work Project Contracting

For instructors planning student group work projects over many weeks or months.

Electron Odyssey: Journey through the Mitochondria’s Electron Transport Chain

Students play the roles of protein complexes to see how electrons, protons, and energy moves through the ETC to produce ATP.

Taskmaster: Diction Icebreakers

These gamified activities will help sensitize students to the nuances of diction and allow them to work together.

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.

Nature of Science Ice-Breaker

A first class ice-breaker activity introducing the nature of science.

Crash Course: Collision Theory

Students use PhET simulation to learn how factors affect reaction rate (collision theory) through hands-on activities

Don’t go NUTS: A Case Study on the Physiology of Stress

Feeling Feverish: Homeostasis of Pyrexia

An Abundance of Bells

Projects on Junot Diaz: “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”