New year, new active learning strategies!
New year, new active learning! If you are reviewing your material to teach for spring semester, jazz it up! This is the time!
Resources:
https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/active-learning/
https://www.ajpe.org/doi/full/10.5688/ajpe759186
Active learning definitions:
-Instructional activities involving students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing (Bonwell and Eison, 1991)
-Approaches that focus on developing students’ skills than on transmitting information and require that students do something—read, discuss, write
-Students’ efforts to actively construct their knowledge
-Opposite of passive learning…aka reading slides to students
Here are some strategies to get you started:
Think-Pair-Share
-Give students a problem/case
-Students first think about problems alone (think)
-Students then discuss the topic with another student (pair)
-Students discuss the topic with a larger group (share)
Muddiest Point
-Students spend 1-2 minutes answering questions about anything that remains confusing/misunderstood about the lecture
Games
-Select a game that you like, select objectives for the lecture/session, then overlay the content onto the framework of the game!
Audience Response Systems (ARS)/Clickers
-Can be integrated into a classroom session for a quick formative or summative assessment
Case Studies
-Require students to apply their knowledge, skills, and attitudes to solve a problem relating to the course material
-Helps prepare students for case-based exam questions