We have divided a non-physics undergraduate student cohort into two parallel teaching settings. We offered a highly interactive flipped class (SCALE-UP) to one group of 52 students and a reformed LECTURE to the remaining 318 students. We compared student performance in both settings, based on a common midterm exam. The SCALE-UP students performed significantly better on conceptual problems, but for numerical problems, SCALE-UP and LECTURE students showed similar results.

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In this paper we present a project dedicated to the development of a didactical toolbox of material for teaching assistants (TAs) supervising exercise classes for non-physics majors at ETH Zurich.  With our materials we were able to support TAs in preparing high-quality exercise sessions for their class which go beyond direct instruction and activate students intellectually and emotionally. The materials are developed for 13 exercise sessions and are presented in the form of an eBook.  The materials were immediately used by several TAs in dedicated focus groups. The positive feedback of students and TAs suggests that our material helped to activate and engage the students, enhancing their learning - even in the challenging setting of online teaching.

We report on the implementation of the SCALE-UP collaborative pedagogical approach in a first-year undergraduate physics class at ETH Zürich. The performance of the students on various assessments was compared with identical assessments in a parallel lecture class in order to gauge the effectiveness of this approach. Surveys were also given to get feedback on how students were reacting to this innovative style of pedagogy.

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