Active Learning Approaches to consider

The following are brief introductions to 10 active learning activities that you might use in conjunction with the traditional lecture format or with other teaching sessions. These activities are viable for classes of any size.

1. Questions: Questions are the simplest form of interaction and can occur at any time during a teaching session. By asking questions, you not only turn students into active participants, but you can also get a sense of their interest and comprehension. You might try asking questions at strategic points or asking for comments or opinions about the subject. Vary the timing of your questions though to avoid creating a known pattern for students which can lull them into passivity.
2. Pro and con grid: The pro and con grid lists advantages and disadvantages of any issue and helps students develop analytical and evaluative skills. It also forces students to go beyond their initial reactions, search for at least two sides to the issue, and weigh the value of competing claims. Let students know how many pros and cons you expect and whether they should use point form or full sentences.
3. Brainstorming: In this activity, students generate ideas which you record on the blackboard or overhead. When beginning a new topic, you might begin by saying “Tell me everything you know about…” You may decide to put the students’ comments into categories, or you might ask students to suggest categories and comment on the accuracy and relative importance of the array of facts, impressions, and interpretations. The main rules of brainstorming are to acknowledge every offering by writing it down and save any critiquing until after the idea generation time is over.
4. Formative (ungraded) quizzes: This technique involves writing quiz questions on the board or a handout and giving students an appropriate time to respond. You may wish to collect anonymous responses, or if the question entails multiple choice, students can raise their hands in agreement as you announce each response or you could use clickers (personal response system). A quiz at the beginning of class allows you to determine how familiar students are with important terms, facts or concepts prior to the lecture, while a quiz following a lecture segment can reveal how well students understood the material.
5. Think-pair-sharing: In its simplest form, students think about a particular question or scenario then pair up to discuss their ideas, then share their results in a large class discussion. Think-pair-sharing forces all students to attempt an initial response to the question, which they can then clarify and expand as they collaborate. This process should take five to ten minutes, depending on the question’s complexity. An extension of this format is to have two pairs join each other and compare answers.
6. One-minute paper or short writes: Punctuating your class with short writing assignments is a powerful way to assess the degree to which students understand presented material. You might ask, “What was the most important thing you learned during this class?” “What questions remained unanswered?” or “Summarize the main point of today’s lecture in one sentence.”
7. Problem solving: demonstrations, proofs and stories: Begin a lecture with a question, a paradox, an enigma, or a compelling, unfinished human story. Solving the problem, depending on what it is or in what field, may require a scientific demonstration, a mathematical proof, an economic model, the outcome of a novel’s plot, or a historical narrative. You refer back to the problem throughout the lecture, inviting students to fill in imaginative spaces in the story (or model) with their own solutions. Students fill in their successive answers passively, or the instructor elicits responses which are recorded on the board and discussed. Example questions include: “What do you think will happen?” “Which solution, outcome, or explanation makes the most sense to you?”
8. Modeling analytical skills: This involves viewing and analysing passages of text, paintings, sonatas, graphs, charts, artifacts, etc. together with your students. You should make sure students have a copy of the document in front of them (or visual access through slides), and then follow three steps: model the analysis, let the students practice it, and then give them feedback.
9. Debates: Debates allow you to add a participatory dimension to your lecture without compromising your control of the class. One strategy is to divide students according to where they happen to sit. Another approach is to ask them in advance to seat themselves in the section representing a particular side of the debate. When some students refuse to choose one side or the other, create a middle ground and invite their reasons for choosing it. Before concluding, you should ask two or three volunteers to make summary arguments for each side.
10. Role playing: The first step in this lecture variation is to give a mini-lecture to establish the context and setting for the role playing. Then divide the class into a number of small groups of varying sizes (if you have a large class, you may have to assign duplicate roles). Each group is assigned a clearly delineated role and given a specific, concrete task – usually to propose a position and course of action. To bring closure to the topic, a debriefing exercise is necessary to help identify what students learned and make the transition to the next topic.