Action Physics

More than a decade ago Edwin Taylor issued a “call to action” that presented the case for basing introductory university mechanics teaching around the principle of stationary action.1 We report on our response to that call in the form of an investigation of the teaching and learning of the stationary action formulation of physics in a first-year university course. Our action physics instruction proceeded from the many-paths approach to quantum physics through to ray optics, classical mechanics, and relativity. Despite the challenges presented by action physics, students reported it to be accessible, interesting, motivational and valuable. 1 ar X iv :1 50 7. 06 07 5v 2 [ ph ys ic s. ed -p h] 5 A pr 2 01 6