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 [E. F. Taylor, Am. J. Phys. 71, 423–425 (2003)]. 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 to ray optics, classical mechanics, and relativity. Despite the challenges presented by action physics, students reported it to be accessible, interesting, motivational, and valuable.