Proceedings of the IUPAP International Conference on Physics Education 2022
The IUPAP International Conference on Physics Education 2022 is an opportunity for physics educators to share ideas and keep up to date. Join us online for engaging discussions and presentations about the future of physics education. The sudden changes to education brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and their implications for the future will be forefront. Discussions will encompass university-level and school-level physics education.
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In a recent study carried out with researchers considered by their peers as pioneers of science education in Brazil, we have found important factors for the constitution of this field of research, as well as the characteristics of research in physics teaching. Based on literature that addresses and compares the development of science and science teaching, we describe the evolution of research and graduate studies in physics teaching in Brazil, relating them to intrinsic (national) and extrinsic (international) factors. We note that, as in the development of science, science education is not neutral either and hinges on several conditions that interfere with classroom teaching. We will highlight current themes that are present in research events in physics education, such as teaching for people with special needs, the presence of women in physics, teaching physics to other minorities, decolonization, and the advancement of the problematization of teaching through socioscientific questions. We understand that these advances, in the case of the Brazilian context, were possible due to the redemocratization of the country. We propose other current issues for discussion that arise for teaching physics in Brazil, such as the gap between the production of knowledge in the area - in general at universities, via postgraduate programs and research groups - and teaching on the school grounds. We cite, for example, the lack of interest in the scientific career, the dropout rates in physics degree courses and among in-service teachers, which we regard as challenges in other countries as well. More recently, there have been issues such as the denial of science, the growth of fundamentalist sects and attempts to interfere in education by groups that advocate a “no-party school”.
Copyright (c) 2022 Proceedings of the IUPAP International Conference on Physics Education 2022
LESSONS LEARNED FROM COVID-19: WHAT WORKS FOR ONLINE PHYSICS TEACHING AND LEARNING? PANELLISTS Svetlana Postnova, The University of Sydney, Australia Sukrit (Nick) Sucharitakul, Chiang Mai University, Thailand Bethany Wilcox, University of Boulder Colorado, USA CHAIR: Jacinta den Besten, The University of Melbourne, Australia View Panel Discussion Abstract INCREASING GENDER DIVERSITY AMONG STUDENTS IN PHYSICS PANELLISTS Gillian Butcher, University of Leicester, UK Tegan Clark, Australian National University and IncludeHER, Australia Margaret Samiji, University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania CHAIR: Manjula D. Sharma, The University of Sydney, Australia View Panel Discussion Abstract STUDENT PANEL: HOW WOULD YOU LIKE PHYSICS EDUCATION TO EVOLVE? PANELLISTS Tracy Bu, The University of Melbourne, Australia Emma Collins, The University of New South Wales, Australia Anna Klampfer, Technical University of Vienna, Austria Dwika Sarnia Putri, Sebelas Maret University, Indonesia Arnoldas Solovjovas, Vilnius University, Lithuania CHAIR: Kate Jackson, The University of New South Wales, Australia View Panel Discussion Abstract
Student panel: How would you like physics education to evolve?
As successful educators we know the value of hearing the student voice. This panel will highlight the thoughts of physics students from around the globe. Questions addressed by the panel will include: What is one thing you would keep and one thing you would change in your physics education? What do you see as the advantages and pitfalls of online learning? Do you feel that your physics education has prepared you well for your future? This panel will comprise of students at different stages of their education from around the world. CHAIR Kate Jackson, The University of New South Wales, Australia PANELLISTS Tracy Bu, The University of Melbourne, Australia Emma Collins, The University of New South Wales, Australia Anna Klampfer, Technical University of Vienna, Austria Dwika Sarnia Putri, Sebelas Maret University, Indonesia Arnoldas Solovjovas, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Increasing gender diversity among students in physics
Getting a good gender representation in physics courses, amongst both high school, university and pre-service teacher students, is a perennial problem. But does this apply to every country? Questions this panel will address are: Is obtaining a good gender representation more of a problem in developed countries? Which courses have the largest and smallest gender disparities? Are there examples of successful initiatives to improve the gender balance? This panel will explore the country context of gender differences and brainstorm what we can learn from each other. CHAIR Manjula D. Sharma, The University of Sydney, Australia PANELLISTS Gillian Butcher, University of Leicester, UK Tegan Clark, Australian National University and IncludeHER, Australia Margaret Samiji, University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Lessons learned from COVID-19: What works for online physics teaching and learning?
Stating that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly interrupted our old-normal of educational institutions worldwide, is a huge understatement. It would be a mistake to assume that all faculties suddenly developed essential skills or an enthusiasm for online teaching as a result of the emergency remote teaching. The post-COVID-19 era offers an opportunity to improve the online teaching experience for faculty and to improve the quality of online learning for students. While varied strategies are being used in online teaching and learning, this panel will focus on the questions: What lessons have physics instructors, students, and administrators learned from the pandemic? Are the lessons worth keeping? What gains were made, and how can physics teaching harness and improve on those gains? To what extent can online education bridge the gap among our students? What needs to be taken into account when designing online educational resources? This panel will comprise of physics educators who have successfully taught physics online and been able to engage students actively. CHAIR Jacinta den Besten, The University of Melbourne, Australia PANELLISTS Svetlana Postnova, The University of Sydney, Australia Sukrit (Nick) Sucharitakul, Chiang Mai University, Thailand Bethany Wilcox, University of Boulder Colorado, USA
This workshop will be presented in the Thai language The source of systematic research should be teaching and learning in the real classroom. The process needs to start from 1) collected some ideas and overview of what alternative conception the students held and what difficulties the students faced, 2) use the findings to guide the development of instructional materials or solution, and 3) carry out an effectiveness assessment of the new instructional materials, based on what the students have learned. Therefore, in this workshop, we will allow participants to self-study how to conduct physics education research, starting with exploring students’ concepts, analyzing students’ responses, generating research questions, and designing a solution. The participants will finally come up with the physics education research mind. Intended Audience: Secondary School Educators
Introduction to Active Learning in Optics and Photonics (ALOP): A Virtual Workshop
In difficult times, education programs need to adapt for an uncertain future. Active Learning in Optics and Photonics (ALOP) is a teacher training program designed to strengthen the introductory physics learning environment at the secondary and university levels, especially in developing countries. It was developed by UNESCO and is currently sponsored by SPIE and ICTP. A full 5-day, in-person, intensive, hands-on-minds-on ALOP workshop updates participants on introductory optics and photonics and introduces them to active learning strategies that have been demonstrated to be more effective than traditional instruction. In-person ALOPs have not been possible recently because of the pandemic. This short version has been developed as a virtual introduction to ALOP. Participants will actively experience sample activities from each of the five ALOP modules, including predictions and small and whole group discussions using breakout rooms. They will also receive an electronic version of the entire ALOP Teacher Training Manual andinformation on scheduling an in-person workshop in the future. More information on ALOP can be found at: https://pages.uoregon.edu/sokoloff/ALOPwebpage.html Intended Audience: University and Secondary-school Educators
There are often heated debates around teaching and learning spaces, from collaborative spaces for student centred learning to abolishing teacher centred lecture theatres. In both school and university contexts, economics and practicalities have led to designing multi-purpose learning spaces which can be used by different disciplines and for different purposes. Consequently, it is often a challenge to justify and advocate for dedicated discipline-based laboratory teaching and learning spaces. In this workshop we will share a particular innovative space specifically designed as a physics laboratory, with the functionality of being used as a recitation/tutorial space, project space as well as for studio teaching with mini lectures. We will also share our experience of running Physics labs in this space. We will show how particular demands: to be ‘multipurpose’ across different modes of physics teaching allowing for in-depth learning of physics, be able to accommodate various level of experimental classes, provide ability of skills development including open-ended projects, grant effective teaching technical support, could be implemented in design solutions. We will discuss how features of teaching space influenced teaching modes. Participants are requested to bring designs of their teaching and learning spaces, share experiences of fit-for-purpose learning spaces as well as pick up some tips if designing new learning spaces. In particular, the space could be welcoming, has a pleasant ambience and has been well received by both staff and students. Given the current context of ‘going online’, physical learning spaces need to be something extra special as we move into the future. Bring along your future-looking extra special learning space designs! Intended Audience: University and Secondary-School Physics Educators
The use of toys in teaching school physics
This workshop will showcase a range of toys suitable for use in teaching physics in schools and to increase graduate primary education students’ confidence and knowledge in STEM. Participants will engage in observing and discussing toys to identify their potential in developing students understanding of science concepts and skills in working and thinking scientifically. Examples of toys suitable for primary school and above will be explored through interactive segments. The workshop is based on my research with preservice teachers learning to teach primary science. Toys simultaneously involve teachers & students in pleasurable scientific play as they explore the conceptual aspects of science. Toys also provide opportunities for modelling scientific thinking & using metalanguage that helps to relate science to the world around them. Intended Audience: Primary and Secondary Educators
Going deeper with PhET interactive simulations
PhET Interactive Simulations project (https://phet.colorado.edu/) at the University of Colorado Boulder creates free interactive simulations and virtual labs for science and math learning. PhET simulations are teaching tools that can support conceptual learning and skill development, but they are most effective when used in a teaching context that makes use of evidence-based, student-centered teaching and learning practices. During this workshop, participants may spend time collaboratively designing an activity sequence using PhET’s suggested strategies (whole-class inquiry, Interactive Lecture Demonstrations, clicker questions and Peer Instruction) and reflecting on guidelines for effective worksheet creation (including pre-labs, challenge prompts, and post-labs). Intended Audience: There will be two separate workshops, one for University Educators and one for Secondary School Educators.
Helping students generate physics inquiry problems
Physicists’ research usually begins when there are imperfections in previous experiments or theories, when new theories, data, materials, and experimental techniques are invented or developed, or when they discover conflicts between theories and experiments or within theories. However, these situations do not apply for school students, who need different conditions to generate their own physics inquiry problems (PIPs). This is despite the fact that students themselves perceive that generating good PIPs is the most difficult part of physics inquiry activities. Some students are often observed trying to discover inquiry problems that are improperly informed, or simply don’t make sense. In this workshop, therefore, we will introduce specific strategies that can help students generate IPSs at the student’s level of knowledge and inquiry experience. Intended Audience: Secondary-school Educators
Students often find learning about uncertainties dry and boring. In order to engage students and simulate their interest, I have been using LEGO race cars to teach measurement more fun while allowing them to quickly repeat their experiments. Students can then perform uncertainty propagation calculations. My research found that these hands-on LEGO activities were instrumental in improving students’ confidence with physics experiments, especially in dealing with uncertainties. LEGO lab was also a key factor in reducing the early attrition rate at the first-year level. The Experimental Activities that I have designed cover a range of topics, including the concept of uncertainty, the number of variables in an experiment, and the fairness of an experiment (i.e., whether the experiment, as designed, biased the result). In each of the experimental tasks fundamental concepts are introduced, including the various formulae for speed, velocity and acceleration, potential and kinetic energy, as well as the calculation of the track angles. Further, uncertainty analysis is introduced and explained for each experiment, with the students being required to identify the sources of the uncertainty (and if it can be determined, the magnitude) and for the quantifiable sources, and then propagate that uncertainty into the final result. For each experiment, the students are asked to discuss the limitations and drawbacks of the experiment and suggest improvements. In this workshop, I will discuss some LEGO experimental activities that can be used in lab classes, helping students comprehend the quite abstract concept of uncertainty. These activities can be modified and used to teach school students about energy conservation, sources of energy, different types of energy etc. Intended Audience: Undergraduate and Secondary-School Physics Educators
STEP-UP: Promoting young women in physics
In many parts of the world, the number of young women pursuing physics degrees trails behind the number of young men. Participants in this workshop will examine the worldwide context of the state of women in Physics across multiple countries. A view of the global landscape and how we fit into it as physics teachers will be emphasized. This will then be coupled with a statistical breakdown of how women move through Physics training. This will help highlight the importance of the secondary education Physics teacher as a pivotal influencer towards addressing why women are not entering the Physics education at the collegiate level at comparable rates to their participation at the secondary level. Participants will then be introduced to the STEP-UP Project goals and the structure of the program, which is an initiative comprised of physics educators, researchers and professional societies that created high school physics lessons to empower teachers, create cultural change and inspire young women to pursue physics in college. The participants of this workshop will start with a hands-on exploration of the first lesson provided by STEP UP, which is a Careers in Physics lesson designed to help students assess their personal values in relation to a career in physics, examine profiles of professionals with physics degrees, and envision themselves in a physics career. This lesson is important preparation for a class before engaging in the second component, the Women in Physics lesson, in which students examine the conditions for women in physics and discuss gender issues with respect to famous physicists, gendered professions, and personal experience to neutralize the effect of stereotypes and bias, and make a classroom commitment to support one another. Participants will continue by examining some general strategies about how to support girls in their classrooms through the STEP-UP Everyday Actions guide. Lastly participants will share opportunities from their own countries that are can further encourage young women to pursue physics as a field of study. Intended Audience: High School Teachers
Finding helpful resources for physics teaching on PhysPort
Physics education researchers have created research results, teaching methods, curricula, and assessments that can dramatically improve physics education. PhysPort (www.physport.org) supports physics educators in implementing research-based teaching practices in their classrooms and departments by providing expert recommendations about teaching methods, assessment, and results from physics education research (PER). In this workshop, you’ll learn how to use the resources on PhysPort to support your teaching. Intended Audience: University and Secondary-school Educators
Do you find yourself talking too much in class whilst your students are poorly engaged? Or do some of your students perform poorly even though they seem to understand the concepts without asking questions in class? If yes, this workshop is for you. Instruction in physics classes is often represented as the instructor spending a lot of time teaching a large amount of information, with students passively listening and taking notes. This can often lead to decreased student engagement. But often the best forms of instruction occur when students are discussing concepts with peers, with the teacher facilitating and guiding the discussions. In a sense the teacher does less but the learning is better. In the session, Paul and Catherine, using a variety of proven instructional techniques, share a number of strategies that allows for greater student engagement and performance.They will model what a “less is more” lesson looks like. Intended Audience: Secondary School Educators
Collaborative science inquiry with the CoSci virtual lab
The CoSci Virtual Lab (https://cosci.tw/), standing for “Collaboration” and “Science Learning”, is developed by Professor Chen-Chung Liu (National Central University), Emeritus Professor Fu-Kwun Hwang (National Taiwan Normal University) and Professor Francisco Esquembre (Universidad de Murcia). The CoSci Virtual Lab allows students to conduct physics experiment collaboratively and to explore and examine their science ideas with more than 100 physics simulations. Intended Audience: University and Secondary-School Educators
Using instructional videos to improve physics education
Instructional videos are widely popular on platforms like YouTube. Students watch them for various purposes, including to prepare for exams, to repeat topics they did not understand, or simply for entertainment. However, there is a lot of evidence from recent studies that just watching an instructional video often fails. If they are not embedded in ongoing cognitive activities and designed poorly, they can even do more harm than good for learning physics. The workshop offers learning opportunities for analyzing the quality of instructional videos and for applying guidelines on how to deal with instructional videos in physics education. The main principle is simple: instructional videos are certainly not teaching – but they could become a part of well-designed instruction if teachers use them cautiously. Intended Audience: University and Secondary School Educators
Increasing student motivation in astronomy; Online and in the classroom
Student motivation is a perennial problem in all stages of education. Most students find astronomy a fascinating and intriguing topic, but even in astronomy courses, it can be a struggle to maintain student motivation. Students are extrinsically motivated, often by grades, but extensive research shows that intrinsic motivation leads to more positive outcomes, such as a growth mindset, better grades, lower academic misconduct, and more fulfilment in goals and achievements. The shift to predominantly online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic has also played a significant role in student motivation. This workshop is based on my design of astronomy assessments and courses to increase student motivation. I will outline my approach to addressing specific problems in introductory courses by leveraging research on student motivation. One aspect of this approach is giving students choice in part of their assessment; this is exemplified in the “Astronomy Picture of the Day” assessment I have developed. Another approach is designing a course in such a way that students can choose which astrophysics Python exercise they complete. Participants are encouraged to engage in discussions about courses they teach where student motivation could be an issue: how is low student motivation manifesting itself (e.g., poor academic integrity, low student attendance), and how can it be addressed? Intended Audience: Undergraduate Physics Educators
Makerspaces are becoming increasingly common in Universities and Schools. However, it has been reported that Makerspaces are not well integrated into educational curricula. In this workshop, we provide some examples of Makerspace projects, we offer a tour of a Makerspace in Northern Thaliand, and engage participants in a ‘Design Thinking’ workshop. These ideas will provide participants with examples of how to effectively use Makerspaces to teach Physics. Intended Audience: School Teachers
The power of virtual reality for physics (and STEM) education
While there has been much hype around VR in education, there has been limited research around what is truly novel about the technology. This workshop will share best practice around the how and why Virtual Reality can be used to enhance student learning in Physics education. Inspired by the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), we developed a novel app at ANU that asks students what forces act on a basketball, and then presents them with the physical world based on their answer. This allows student to experience unphysical worlds that manifest their misconceptions around forces. Guided by a narrator, students reflect on their answers to correct their misconception. Participants of this workshop will hear about the positives and challenges of using highly immersive VR in education, including recent research that demonstrates its effectiveness with over 150 students. They will also experience the learning journey of students, including taking the FCI, watching a live demo of the VR experience, then a chance to retake the FCI. The workshop will conclude with a facilitated discussion around other ways VR might be useful in Physics education, including a second demo of our EM-field VR simulator. Intended Audience: Undergraduate and Secondary-School Physics Educators
Einstein-First: Modernising school science
Einstein-First aims to revise science education from Primary school to Middle school by early introduction of modern “Einsteinian” concepts of space, time, gravity, light and matter. In many trials with more than 20 schools we have shown that children respond to the modern concepts with ease and enthusiasm, and that middle school students, especially girls, show marked improvements in their attitude to science. Because it covers modern science content that most students have heard of through media, students perceive the content to be relevant, while the activity-based learning that includes toys and models ensures engagement of all students. We have introduced short specific activity-based training programs and UWA micro-credential courses for teachers that have enabled them to quickly upskill on the content required for teaching the primary or secondary components our 8-year syllabus. Even teachers with minimal science background are able to achieve confidence to teach our content because the activity-based program avoids jargon, and concepts are revealed by simple activities. This workshop will give an overview of the program, involve participants in examples of activities and present learning outcomes. Intended Audience: School Teachers
Advanced Physics Laboratories Workshop: Challenges and Opportunities
Undergraduate laboratories are an integral part of undergraduate education in science and engineering. A recent American Association of Physics Teachers report on teaching laboratories identified main goals of the undergraduate laboratory curriculum, with learning outcomes focused on: constructing knowledge, modeling, designing experiments, developing practical laboratory skills, collecting, analyzing, and visualizing data, and finally, communicating the results. While significant progress has been achieved in reforming the laboratory components of the introductory-level courses, improving the labs for more specialized upper division physics courses remains a challenge, especially for smaller-size programs and Departments. Obstacles include the cost involved as well as the expertise needed for developing and running highly specialized experiments. This workshop will address the potential ways to overcome some of the challenges. While the offered workshop format does not allow providing a complete immersion-type experience with the advanced labs, workshop participants will be given opportunity to sample the fragments of several essential lab experiments, in a virtual format, and discuss, in the breakout rooms, the sample tasks, questions and data. Some open-source resources for advanced laboratories (both in-class and virtual/remote options) will be shared with the workshop participants. Intended Audience: Undergraduate Physics Educators
The use of computation in the physics classroom has the potential to revolutionise the teaching of many topics in the Physics curriculum. By allowing teachers to move beyond problems that can be solved by hand in the limited time available in a lecture, students can be given a much more authentic experience of the topic. With carefully scaffolded tasks, either in a lecture or in a dedicated computational lab, students can explore a much wider range of problems, in a more meaningful way. We will discuss our experience of using computational physics at Sydney, with emphasis on how to think about introducing it into your own teaching. We will discuss the types of problems that can be tackled, which tools to use, and how to deal with students with different background experience. Participants are asked to install the Anaconda python distribution before the workshop https://www.anaconda.com/products/distribution and bring along suggestions for parts of the curriculum you would be interested in exploring. Intended Audience: University physics educators
Welcome to the International Conference on Physics Education for 2022. With the increased rate of change to how education is delivered, due to sudden shifts to a heavy reliance on online teaching, we decided to make the theme of this conference “Preparing for the Future”. We hope that over the week you have a chance to be inspired by the practice of others, reflect on what works (and does not work) in physics teaching, and have meaningful discussions with colleagues from around the world. The International Conference on Physics Education is the flagship conference of IUPAP commission 14, Physics Education. As such it is governed by IUPAP’s conference policies which you can find here: https://iupap.org/conferences/conference-policies/. This year the conference is being hosted from Australia with satellite hosts in Thailand and Indonesia. A big thankyou to IUPAP for providing funding for this conference. I encourage you to actively participate in this conference. We have designed it to be as inclusive as possible. We chose an online conference as it allowed us to keep fees very low and offer scholarships to encourage participation from delegates all around the world. We also knew that Australia would be a long way for many of you to travel, and thought that the travel expenses would be prohibitive. We have designed the conference to cater to university level physics educators, high school physics teachers and people teaching high school teachers. The interactive workshops will be a highlight of the conference, along with exciting plenary and keynote talks, panels and contributed talks and posters. The talks and panels will all be recorded and available for watching asynchronously during the conference as we know the time differences can be hard to manage in some locations. I am very grateful to the committee members, many of whom have gone above and beyond to bring this conference together. Thanks to the members of all the committees: Organising committee, Program committee, technical committee and the International committee. A special thankyou to Manju Sharma, Jacinta den Besten, Thomas Dixon, Ana Lopes, Pornrat Wattanakasiwich, Angela Fösel for all their hard work and to my co-chairs Jiradawan Huntula and Aris Doyan. I hope that you find this conference interesting and enjoyable and that you get at least a few good ideas that you can implement in your own teaching or research practice. Professor Elizabeth Angstmann Conference Chair The IUPAP International Conference on Physics Education
Addressing gender differences on physics assessment tasks
THE PROBLEM The participation of women in the workforce and education has risen dramatically over the last several decades. However, women are still under-represented in STEM fields, and particularly in physics. So, why is this the case and what can we do about it? Many reasons have been postulated: school, family and broader societal culture are all believed to be important (see for example Hazari et al., 2007). These external factors influence internal factors such as interest, self-efficacy and motivation. These factors can influence not only a student’s desire to take a subject, but also their ability to succeed in it (Kalendar et al., 2020). Assessment practices in physics can also contribute to the gender gap in participation. There are two mechanisms by which this can occur. First, there can be a direct impact by the exclusion of girls and women based on assessment results. This is most likely on competitive exams for limited places. This has been observed on university placement exams (among others, Singh & Pathak, 2010), and international and national competitions (Wilson et al., 2016). Second, feedback from assessment tasks in which girls underperform compared to their male peers, can result in reduced self-efficacy and reduced motivation to continue in those subjects. WHAT CAN BE DONE? We have explored the reasons for gender gaps in physics exams, particularly in competitive examinations. What we have found is that often it is the question structure or even the question wording that is causing the gender gap. We recommend that anyone running assessment tasks in physics look at the results of their assessment to see whether there is a gender gap in performance (or indeed gaps with any other demographic factors). This needs to be done not just at whole-task level, but question by question. We have observed that when there is a small overall gap, it is often due to large gaps in a relatively small number of questions. Investigating these questions can then provide valuable information. It may be that the question itself is the problem – something about the question structure or wording may be causing the gap. In this case, the question can be revised to reduce or eliminate the gap. We have also observed that some marking schemes, in particular “negative marking” on multiple choice exams, disproportionately penalizes girls. In some instances, it may not be the structure or wording of the question, or the marking scheme, but the content – the gap in performance may be indicating a genuine gap in knowledge or understanding. In this case, where possible, the gap should be addressed through modified teaching and learning practices. We have found that interactive learning activities in which students create multiple representations in different modes support learning for all students and help close gender gaps. REFERENCES Hazari, Z., Tai, R.H., & Sadler, P. M. (2007). Gender differences in introductory university physics performance: The influence of high school physics preparation and affective factors, Science Education, 91, 847. Kalender, Z. Y., Marshman, E., Schunn, C. D., Nokes-Malach, T. J., & Singh, C. (2020). Damage caused by women’s lower self-efficacy on physics learning. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 16(1), 010118. Singh, V. A. & Pathak, P. (2010). Gender asymmetry in selection tests at the pre-college level. Current Science, 98(11), 1432-1433. Wilson, K., Low, D., Verdon, M., & Verdon, A. (2016). Differences in gender performance on competitive physics selection tests. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 12(2), 020111.
Active learning using online interactivity
Preparation for classes and interactivity are core components of active learning. Both of these components can be implemented in ways enabled by technology, using online resources and activities. This presentation will discuss a range of online strategies to support active learning, from the viewpoint of at least a decade’s work on implementing active learning in a variety of university physics courses. A particular focus has been the development and evaluation of online learning modules. “Five Minute Physics” was originally envisaged as lecture preparation material. Its concise text, videos/animations and quizzes with instant feedback are designed to provide students with a fundamental understanding of course material, preparing them for interactive in-class activities. Once it was proven that students actually use this resource, its content was extended. An introductory-level service course has a complete suite of Five Minute Physics modules covering the course material. These have been consistently nominated by students over many semesters (pre-COVID, at the height of the pandemic crisis, and now), as one of the best aspects of the course. Initially, student engagement with interactive simulations that were incorporated in Five Minute Physics varied widely. We have since integrated simulations in learning tasks, for example, small-group worksheets for tutorials. Students across a number of courses have responded very positively to use of online simulations, reporting gains from simulation-based activities, and describing how simulations helped their learning. In the rapid transition to new delivery modes prompted by COVID-19, we attempted to retain advantages of active learning – supported by technology. In recent semesters, for a first-year course with hundreds of students, consisting of lectures, tutorials and practicals, most students experienced a blend of online and face-to-face teaching. Interactive lectures have been achieved online, and in simultaneous face-to-face/online mode. Tutorials on-campus and online have used the same activities, based on online interactive simulations and small-group discussion. Student attitudes to the use of online simulations in both situations have been overwhelmingly positive. Student engagement in in-person tutorials was relatively high. In online tutorial sessions, engagement was generally lower, the productive student discussion varied dramatically, but engagement improved over the semester with tutors working to encourage discussion. As we aim to address contemporary and future challenges in physics education, technology-enabled strategies will continue to offer interesting possibilities to support active learning. REFERENCE Five Minute Physics. http://teaching.smp.uq.edu.au/fiveminutephysics/