Performance-Based Physics Laboratory

Physics education research has repeatedly proven the effectiveness of a "flipped classroom" environment, which centers on student-student interactions. The classrooms allow you to tackle tough problems with others in class so that you are more prepared to tackle similar problems on homework and tests.

The Ithaca College Department of Physics & Astronomy were early leaders in the design and creation of a Performance-Based Physics Lab. Our PBP lab was developed in collaboration with Physics Education Researcher and active learning pioneer, Robert Beichner (North Carolina State University) beginning in 2005. In the years since, our PBP Lab has been significantly updated and remains a state-of-the-art space for active learning and collaboration.

Active learning classrooms like our PBP lab are designed to facilitate interactions between students working on problem-solving activities, experiments, simulations, and hands-on activities. Instead of separating traditional lecture from lab, our PBP lab allows us to integrate traditional lecture with more active components so in a typical class period, you might end up doing all of the above! The pedagogy has been derived from the proven SCALE-UP (Student-Centered Active Learning Environments with Upside-down Pedagogies) developed by Robert Beichner (video) and other physics education researchers.