Active Learning

Active LearningImplicit Bias

Creating an Engaging & Inclusive Environment (read full series)

What is it?What is it?

Active learning strategies are instructional activities that engage students in doing things as well as thinking about what they are doing (adapted from Bonwell and Eison, 1991).  Active learning approaches support the student-centered, co-construction of knowledge, skills, and values (more than the transmission of information from the instructor to the students).

ResearchResearch

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) has followed the engagement experiences of thousands of college students since 2000. Their consistent results show that hands-on, integrative, and collaborative active learning experiences lead to high levels of student achievement and personal development (Kuh et al., 2017). Owens et al. (2017) found that active learning can positively impact student motivation. Reimer et al. (2016) found active learning to be particularly beneficial to first-generation college students in STEM courses, boosting both retention and passing rates. 

DataData

  • In a meta-analysis involving high enrollment lectures findings show that active learning increases student performance on exams by an average of 6%, and decreased failure rates from 34% to 22% (Freeman et al., 2014).

Teaching Strategies

  • Break up lectures for time to process, discuss, or practice. In a Think/Write-Pair-Share activity, ask the class a question, and then give students a few minutes to think about or write down a response. Students then pair up and share their ideas.
  • Assess students’ understanding. In the Muddiest Point ask students (towards the end of class) to write a short note explaining which point from that day’s class is most unclear to them. This strategy helps to better assess student learning and helps students reflect on their learning process.
  • Implement reciprocal teaching activities. For a Gallery Walk, set up stations or displays throughout the room.  Organize so students rotate through each station (individually or in groups), completing a task or responding to a specific prompt at each station.
  • Organize and structure for inquiry-based learning. Give student teams a Case Study describing a real world and/or field-related problem. Each team must then develop a solution to the problem, using course concepts, outside research, etc. 

  • Integrate writing-to-learn activities. Free writes, for example, are short, ungraded, in-class exploratory writing activities meant to get students engaged in a course topic.

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Students say ...Students Say

  • “It really helps when instructors ask which parts of the lesson are still unclear and then actually reteach those parts at the start of the next class.”
  • “I really enjoyed the ‘practical’ aspect of applying what we learned in class to real-world case studies.”

Reflection

  • How do you provide opportunities for students to think, process, or reflect after you disseminate content?
  • What proportion of time are you “doing” in class versus the proportion of time your students are “doing?”