ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES

Dr. James Collofello

 Active Learning
• “Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn
much just by sitting in class listening to teachers, memorizing
prepackaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They
must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate
it to past experiences, apply it to their daily lives. They must
make what they learn part of themselves.”

Chickering, A & Gamson, Z. F. (March 1987). Seven principles for good practice. AAHE Bulletin 39: 3-7.

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 What is Active Learning?
• “Active Learning is, in short, anything that students do in a
classroom other than merely passively listening to an
instructor's lecture. This includes everything from listening
practices which help the students to absorb what they hear,
to short writing exercises in which students react to lecture
material, to complex group exercises in which students apply
course material to "real life" situations and/or to new
problems. “

Paulson & Faust, California State University, Los Angeles,

http://www.calstatela.edu/dept/chem/chem2/Active/index.htm

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4
 Exercise
Describe how active learning is incorporated
into your classes.

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 Before Instruction
• Here are a few ideas that you can do to increase
student engagement before instruction begins:
– Stage Setting I
– Stage Setting II
– Recalling Prior Knowledge/Materials

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 Exercise
Develop a set of stage setting questions for
the assigned topic.

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 Exercise
Apply Stage Setting II exercise to “integrated
curriculum design”

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 During Instruction
• Here are a few ideas that you can do to increase
student engagement during instruction:
– Wait time
– Clarification pauses
– Student summaries
– Finger signals/flash cards
– Fishbowl

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 Pre-Theoretic Intuitions Quiz
• To get students interested in a topic before lectures
begin, an instructor can give a quiz aimed at getting
students to both identify and to assess their own
views

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 How to Implement
Pre-Theoretic Quizzes
• Create quiz or poll questions based on the
information you want your students to focus on
throughout the unit, chapter, etc.
• Prior to starting the unit or chapter, ask your
students to respond to the various questions. This
can be done individually or in a small group (which
will allow for a discussion of the topic).
• Assess the answers.

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 Ideas for Using Pre-Theoretic Quizzes
• Written quizzes or polls to start a new topic

• Questionnaire designed to start students thinking

about a topic.

• Can be given in a pre/post test format

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 Pre-Theoretic Quiz Activity
• Answer the questions on the quiz.

• We will use the answers in the next activity.

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 Exercise
Develop a set of pre-theoretic questions for
the assigned topic.

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 Turn to Partner Discussion
• Students are asked to pair off and to predict or
respond to a question either in turn or as a pair. This
can easily be combined with other techniques such
as “Pre-Theoretic Intuition Quizzes”.

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 Exercise: Turn to Partner
Discussion Activity
• Using the answers from the Pre-Theoretical
Intuitions Quiz, turn to a partner and discuss your
answers.

• After you have discussed the answers to your

questions, discuss with your partner why this activity
might benefit your students?

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 Think-Pair-Share
• Think-Pair-Share is a cooperative discussion strategy.
It gets its name from the three stages of student
action, with emphasis on what students are to be
DOING at each of those stages.

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 Why Use Think-Pair-Share
• Think-Pair-Share is helpful because it structures the
discussion.
• Students follow a prescribed process that limits off-
task thinking and off-task behavior.
• Accountability is built in because each must report to
a partner, and then partners must report to the
class.

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 When to use Think-Pair-Share
• Can be used to
– initiate discussion on a new topic,
– review a topic that was already covered, and
– promote higher-level thinking.

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 Tricks for Using Think-Pair-Share
• It is important that the initial question or problem is
clearly presented so that the students understand
what they are suppose to do while working through
the THINK portion.

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 Think-Pair-Share Activity
• THINK (2-5 minutes)
– Individually, brainstorm specific ways you could use
the Think-Pair-Share strategy with your students.
• Pair (3-5 minutes)
– Partner with someone near you and share your ideas
with each other.
• Share (4-5 minutes)
– Share with the entire group a few of the ideas your
group discussed during the Pair portion.

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 Think-Pair-Share in the Classroom
• Discuss how you could use Think-Pair-Share in your
courses.

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 “The Muddiest Point”
• Also known as
– “What’s still fuzzy”
– “One Minute Paper”
– “The Fish Bowl”

• All of these strategies give students the opportunity to ask

questions in a non-threatening way.

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 “The Muddiest Point”
• Give students ample opportunities to ask or respond
to questions using these techniques.

• Best used at the end of the class period or at a

natural break in the presentation.

• It is extremely important for instructors to read and

respond to all of these, either individually or as a
whole.

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 “The Muddiest Point” Exercise
• submit any of the following to the instructor:
– A “One Minute Paper” discussing how you could
use this strategy in with your students.
– A “Muddiest Point” question using the sticky
notes provided at each table.
– A “Fish Bowl” index card concerning any of the
course material covered so far.
• Discuss the usefulness of this technique
• Discuss technology to support

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 Jigsaw Method
• Each member of a group is asked to complete some
discrete part of an assignment; when every member
has completed his assigned task, the pieces can be
joined together to form a finished project.

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 Jigsaw Example
• Students in a course in African geography might be
grouped and each assigned a country; individual
students in the group could then be assigned to
research the economy, political structure, ethnic
makeup, terrain and climate, or folklore of the
assigned country. When each student has completed
his research, the group then reforms to complete a
comprehensive report.

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 Jigsaw Method Activity
1. Assign individual tasks to be completed by each group.

2. Give each student an index card with a letter (A, B, C, …) and

a number (1, 2, 3, …).

3. Divide students into groups based on the LETTER that is on

their card (all the A’s go together, B’s together, etc).

4. Assign each group letter a task to discuss or research; they

become the experts on that task.

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 Jigsaw Method Activity
5. Next, students will group with those who have the same
NUMBER on their index card. Ideally, you would want one
EXPERT per task in a group.

6. The expert then teaches the group about their task and is
responsible for any follow up questions.

7. Finally, a whole class discussion can summarize the main

points.

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 Jigsaw in the Classroom
• Reading assignments
• Concepts with multiple parts
• Learning new ideas or concepts
• Other ways???

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Exercise

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 Concept Mapping
• A concept map is a way of illustrating the connections that
exist between terms or concepts covered in course material;
students construct concept maps by connecting individual
terms by lines that indicate the relationship between each set
of connected terms.

• Developing a concept map requires the students to identify

and organize information and to establish meaningful
relationships between the pieces of information.

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 When to Use Concept Mapping
• Brainstorming new topics.

• Pre-writing activity for research papers. Students

research a topic and develop a concept map that
organizes thoughts before writing a paper.

• Organize concepts with a number of different parts

and subparts.

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 Concept Mapping Activity
1. Prepare the project topic.
2. Have students generate ideas related to the topic.
3. Structure the ideas (sort and rate).
4. Develop the concept map.
5. Share and discuss concept maps with other
students.

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 Concept Mapping in the Classroom
• Discuss how you could use Concept Mapping in your
courses.

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 Panel Discussions
• Useful when students are asked to give class presentations or
reports as a way of including the entire class in the
presentation.
• Student groups are assigned a topic to research and asked to
prepare presentations (note that this may readily be
combined with the jigsaw method outlined above).
• Each panelist is then expected to make a very short
presentation, before the floor is opened to questions from
"the audience".

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 Debates
• A variation of Panel Discussions.
• Formal debates provide an efficient structure for class
presentations when the subject matter easily divides into
opposing views or ‘Pro’/‘Con’ considerations.
• Students are assigned to debate teams, given a position to
defend, and then asked to present arguments in support of
their position on the presentation day. The opposing team
should be given an opportunity to rebut the argument(s).
• This format is particularly useful in developing argumentation
skills (in addition to teaching content).

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 Panel Discussions/Debates
1. Introduce a topic to be discussed or debated.
2. Divide students into groups.
3. Allow time for research and information gathering.
4. Allow panels or teams a practice session.
5. Allow students to manage the Panel Discussion and
Debates.

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 Exercise: Panel Discussions/Debates
in the Classroom
• Discuss how you could use Panel Discussions or
Debates in your courses.

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 Case Studies
• An in-depth investigation of a single individual, group, or event to explore
causation in order to find underlying principles.
• Students read case studies and discuss with partners or small groups. This
can be combined with Think-Pair-Share, Jigsaw, etc.
• Engineering case studies links
http://www.civeng.carleton.ca/ECL/

http://www.engin.umich.edu/teaching/assess_and_improve/handbook/di
rect/casestudy.html
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/ubcase.htm
• Election case study

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 Case Studies Activity
1. Prepare a list of case studies for students to read.
2. Have students analyze the case, applying concepts,
data, and theory from the class.
3. Divide students into groups or as a think-pair-share
to discuss the individual cases.
4. Consider combining this with a brief in-class writing
assignment related to the topic.

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 Case Studies in the Classroom
• Discuss how you could use Case Studies in your
courses.

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 Games
• There are some concepts or theories that are more
easily illustrated than discussed and in these cases, a
well-conceived game may convey the idea more
readily.
• Example: Review games (e.g. Jeopardy) where
groups of students earn points for successful getting
questions correct.

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 Games in the Classroom
• Discuss how you could use Games in your courses.

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 Peer Teaching
• Peer teaching involves students learning from and
with each other in ways which are mutually
beneficial and involve sharing knowledge, ideas and
experience between participants. The emphasis is on
the learning process, including the emotional
support that learners offer each other, as much as
the learning itself.

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 Peer Teaching
• The peer teaching process involves teams of three to
six students collaboratively researching a topic that
relates to a curriculum or teachers' work issue, and
teaching it to a group. The peer teaching must be
interactive and student-centered. Provocative
lecturing is deemed unacceptable.

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 Peer Teaching Activity
1. Assign a topic to each group.
2. Groups meet to become experts on the topic by
researching and investigating the main points of the
topic.
3. Groups develop a learning opportunity in which
they will present to the class.
4. Groups present their topic.

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 Peer Teaching in the Classroom
• Discuss how you could use Peer Teaching in your
courses.

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 Active Review Sessions
• In the traditional class review session the students
ask questions and the instructor answers them.
Students spend their time copying down answers
rather than thinking about the material. In an active
review session the instructor posses questions and
the students work on them in groups. Then students
are asked to show their solutions to the whole group
and discuss any differences among solutions
proposed.

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 Student-Led Debriefing
• Have the students do the work.
• For example, spend half the time working in small
groups. Each student is to ask at least one question
related to the material he or she doesn’t understand,
and to try to answer a question posed by another
student. Students can also practice discussing,
illustrating and applying difficult material or
concepts, or drafting exam questions.

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 Student-Led Debriefing
• For the second half of the review session, the whole
class works together. Students may ask questions;
other students volunteer to answer them.
• The instructor only speaks if there is a problem. Be
sure to explain what will be going on ahead of time
so students are less frustrated when you don’t stand
up there and simply review the material or give the
answers or tell them what to study!

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 Debriefing/Active Review Activity
• Content

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 Debriefing/Active Review
in the Classroom
• Discuss how you could use Debriefing or Active
Review Sessions in your courses.

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 Student-Generated Exams
• Here students are asked to become actively involved
in creating quizzes and tests by constructing some
(or all) of the questions for the exams.
• This exercise may be assigned for homework and
then evaluated.
• Once suggested questions are collected, the
instructor may use them as the basis of review
sessions, and/or to model the most effective
questions.

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 Student-Generated Exams
• Further, you may ask students to discuss the merits
of a sample of questions submitted; in discussing
questions, they will significantly increase their
engagement of the material to supply answers.
• Students might be asked to discuss several aspects of
two different questions on the same material
including degree of difficulty, effectiveness in
assessing their learning, proper scope of questions,
and so forth.

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 Exercise
Generate an exam on Active Learning for your
classmates to take

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 Student-Generated Exams
in the Classroom
• Discuss how you could use Student-Generated Exams
in your courses.

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