This paper discusses the use of science fiction movies in introductory physics courses at Spelman College. There are several reasons to use these movies in the classroom environment. Movies are a visual learning aid. Introductory physics students show a strong interest in participating in movie-related activities compared to standard group problem-solving sessions. Finally, these activities encourage creative thinking and can be used to develop writing skills. The students involved with these movie-based activities have included biology and pre-medical majors taking general physics. In the introductory level courses, physics, chemistry, and engineering majors worked on movie-based activities.

In fall 2020, the Physics Department was tasked with coming up for a plan for optics, our one credit lab course. Because of the continued COVID-19 pandemic, our institution planned to offer a fully online fall semester, with no students residing on campus. The college announced the plan 5 weeks prior to the start of the semester. This paper will detail how optics was taught online using a hybrid format of delivery.

Photovoltaic-cell-based projects have been used to train eight incoming undergraduate women who were part of a residential summer programme at a women's college. A module on renewable energy and photovoltaic cells was developed in the physics department. The module's objectives were to introduce women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors to physical phenomena, to develop quantitative literacy and communication skills, and to increase the students' interest in physics. The students investigated the performance of commercially available silicon semiconductors through experiments they designed, carried out and analysed. They fabricated and tested organic dye-based solar cells. This article describes the programme, the solar cell module, and presents some experimental results obtained by the students.

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During a semester-long introductory optics course, each student is required to develop an experimental optics-related project from proposal to completion. We present outcomes on student learning from this multi-week, student-driven course component.