Nikolas Provatas

Since 2018, Professor Nikolas Provatas has been pioneering curiosity-driven active learning approaches to teaching Introductory Electromagnetism for freshmen students in the Life Sciences. His aim throughout his pedagogical work has been to design peer-led, process-driven learning structures where constructive failure is encouraged, and regularity of practice and transparency of process are rewarded.

After the successful implementation of a fully flipped classroom for 650+ students in 2019, Nikolas Provatas has adapted this active learning model to best suit the scale and demographic of his course, so he created a bespoke hybrid course structure that allowed students to invest in the course at their desired level of active engagement.

This year, he dedicated himself to pioneering new assessment strategies that emphasize curiosity-driven and application-based learning through a group-project alternative to the standard multiple-choice midterm test, an exercise that pushed the boundaries of qualitatively assessing concept integration in a freshman course. Moreover, Nikolas Provatas’ initiative to design and implement small-group, student-led tutorials in McGill’s large-scale introductory physics courses was so impactful that it is now also being implemented in PHYS 101: Introduction to Mechanics to provide all incoming freshman Life Science students with a chance to experience collaborative small-group tutorial environments