It has been well established in the literature for over two decades that an interactive engagement approach, otherwise known as active learning leads to higher learning gains for students [1]. With this in mind I ensure that my lectures involve many interactive elements forcing students to think critically about what they are learning. I also ensure that I inform students about the reason the material is delivered as it is, as a scientist I believe we should take a scientific approach to education and use methodologies that are well supported by evidence. Studies have shown that explicitly explaining the value of active learning activities helps students get on board quickly [2]. My approach and the student experience is well captured in the videos below.

As first year physics director I also influence how others teach first year physics through talks, workshops and sharing resources. Because using predict-observe-explain activities has been shown to improve the observation skills [3] of students by focusing their attention on the most important part of the demonstration, I use these before many of my demonstrations. The majority of first year physics lecturers have now adopted similar techniques.

[1] Hake, R. R. (1998). Interactive-engagement versus traditional methods: A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses. American journal of Physics, 66(1), 64-74.

[2] Deslauriers, L., McCarty, L. S., Miller, K., Callaghan, K., & Kestin, G. (2019). Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(39), 19251-19257.

[3] Miller, K., Lasry, N., Chu, K., & Mazur, E. (2013). Role of physics lecture demonstrations in conceptual learning. Physical review special topics-physics education research, 9(2), 020113.