Exercise sounds like something you do as practice, an activity something you do for the sake of it. In recent weeks I have started producing resources that combine observation, measurement, simulation and theory into a package that students can follow independently to gaining conceptual understanding, developing skills and learning content. I originally called these exercises and put them in the practical work section, however they are more than exercises, they are a means to an end. So, I changed the name to activity and made a new section especially for them. The idea is to make activities to cover the whole course, so far I am only one step ahead of the game, I write the worksheets at the weekend and test them on my students the week after, as they find mistakes and things they don't understand I make corrections and add further explanations. There is nothing new about this approach , in fact when I started teaching 37 years ago this was the way it was done. As the years passed I began to like performing in front of the class so dropped the student centred approach but the IBs focus on ATLs encouraged me think again.

So, how's it going?

So far I have only used the method with my second year HL class, the classes are small and the students very motivated. We have been doing diffraction and interference which is probably the most conceptually difficult part of the course. I notice that students who would never ask questions in class are saying much more. Things that I would skip over quickly require much more time than I would have thought. Combining practical work with theory makes a lot of sense. No where near as much laughter as when I am in front.

I'll be introducing the same approach with my first year classes in about an hour. As always I have a very mixed ability group, from students who have very little English to students who have won prizes in physics. With such a group it makes sense to go student centred. We'll see.