When you develop or adjust an active learning exercise for class, what all should you take into account? And are there ways to assess its potential effectiveness for student engagement?
Go through following the slideshow to explore seven key features:
Then check out six popular active learning activities that work whether your class is in person, online, or hybrid.
Click through the slideshow to explore seven key features of an effective active learning exercise. Get a one-page version of this slideshow here.Purpose The purpose of the activity is explicitly connected to student learning objectives.
Simplicity The task and steps are explicit. The activity should be as simple as possible to achieve the outcome, so most of students' working memory is used for learning (rather than figuring out the task).
Prior Knowledge Students have the prerequisite knowledge to achieve the task. This provides a structure onto which learners can connect new information.
Safe Participation Classroom norms have been established and are reinforced to reduce student fear of judgment.
Practicing Recall The activity provides opportunities for elaboration (esp. explaining 'how' or 'why' things work) and retrieval practice (i.e., bringing information to mind from memory), both of which have repeatedly shown to be highly effective in supporting learning.
Accountability Output from the activity should be submitted or otherwise reported on (e.g., a debrief).
Feedback Students receive feedback on how they performed to modify or enhance their understanding of the task.
This activity is used to break down a topic to identify and classify its parts. Identify, then write each concept on a sticky note or card. Then in small groups, or one large group, sort and organize the concept papers into categories to identify common themes. Create headings for each grouping. If using small groups, have each group review each other's or have them explain their categories.
Organize students into groups, have them use physical note cards or post-it notes. If sticky notes, have them group them up on classroom walls for all to see.
Organize students into breakout groups, have them use digital sticky notes in Microsoft Whiteboard or Zoom Whiteboard.
Organize groups by in-person students and online students to help with small group discussions. Have all groups use digital sticky notes (i.e. Microsoft Whiteboard) for easy comparison between all groups. If enough groups exist, have in-person groups swap with online groups for comparison.
Board Work Model
This is a method of organizing board work to facilitate an understanding of problem-solving strategies in small groups. The board (or paper) should be divided into 4 sections:
Prerequisite knowledge
Mathematical/Problem-Solving steps
Narrative of the steps
Additional Sample Problem
Encourage one student to fill out section one on the board. Then, encourage two students to complete sections two and three on the board together at the same time. Finally, have the last student complete the fourth section white referring to the previous sections. Have students rotate roles for each pair of problems. You can also encourage students to use this model when studying outside of class.
Organize students into groups of 4, have them use whiteboards or chalkboards if available. If not, have them use paper that they pass between group members.
Organize students into break out groups and have them use digital writing surface like Microsoft Whiteboard.
Organize groups by in-person students and online students to help with small group discussions. Have all groups use digital whiteboards for easy comparison between all groups. If enough groups exist, have in-person groups review online groups and vice versa for comparison.
Double Timeline
Construct a general timeline of events to provide to students. Have student groups construct a duplicate timeline with additional details related to lecture material, readings, etc. This activity allows students to make connections between 2 different sources (e.g., lecture and the readings), or between related processes/time frames and how they may affect each other (e.g., historical events and literature of the time).
Organize students into groups and provide them with your general timeline of events digitally (Microsoft Whiteboard) or on paper. If whiteboards or chalkboards are available in the classroom, you can project your general timeline and have students fill in their specific timelines on the chalkboards/whiteboards.
Create a shared PowerPoint that has the general timeline on every slide and space for the specific timeline. Organize students into break out groups and assign one PowerPoint slide for each group. Groups work collaboratively on their slide, and afterwards can compare by scrolling through the slide show.
Organize groups by in-person students and online students to help with group conversation dynamics. You can choose to have all students work on a collaborative PowerPoint (see online classes example above) or have in-person groups work on a paper copy and when finished, take a picture of their paper with their phone and insert that entire image as their group slide.*
* Note: Students should make sure the image is accessible, including alternative text that describes their group slide and conveys any information it contains.
Grab Bag
Place problems, topics for discussion, course concepts, etc. on slips of paper into a hat or bag. Students or teams must grab a slip of paper and solve or discuss the problem/topic.
Variations:
Students grab sources and must correctly cite the source using appropriate style (e.g., APA, MLA) on the board.
Students grab positions/arguments on an issue and must provide persuasive arguments from that position.
Students grab math word problems to solve for the class.
Students grab a vocabulary word and must define it and provide an example to the class.
Students grab an event and must add it to the correct location on a timeline.
The options are truly bound only by your imagination. The intrigue, of course, is in not knowing which slip of paper students will pull out.
Place options on slips of paper and place in hat or bag. Have students complete task on whiteboards in room or on a shared digitally collaborative space (Microsoft Whiteboard, PowerPoint, etc.)
Place options into Excel to randomize the order of topics (like https://www.random.org/lists/) and assign to students per the roster order after randomizing. (Or randomize student order and assign to topics) Have students complete the task on a shared digitally collaborative space (Microsoft Whiteboard, Zoom Whiteboard, PowerPoint, etc.)
Spilt up options based on number of students online and in-person and complete the tasks in a digitally collaborative space. Then bring online students together with in-person students to compare, fit data together, share, etc.
Matrices
A matrix helps students organize information by showing its relationship between similar categories of information. It is a helpful tool for students to compare information, to recall information from a previous class, or to activate prior knowledge before starting a new topic. Students can develop categories, and levels, then organize information appropriately. Or you can give them a matrix that is partially complete and ask them to fill in the missing pieces. This could be the information, the categories, or a combination of both.
Matrix example
Term
Paraphrased Definition
Examples from Lecture
My Example
Oligopoly
A market where a few firms produce all or most of the supply of a good
Airlines
Monopoly
Public utilities (water, gas, electricity, etc.)
Ask students to copy the matrix in their notes and fill it in.
Ask students to copy the matrix in their notes and fill it in.
Ask students to copy the matrix in their notes and fill it in.
*NOTE: Not all active learning has to be collaborative. Active Learning refers to helping students become active participants in the learning process. This activity could be combined with other activities mentioned to make it collaborative if you would like.
Summarize and Connect
This activity helps students to summarize and synthesize connections between concepts from class or a reading.
Put students into groups of 3-6.
Ask each group to summarize the day's lesson/readings in one word and write that word on a whiteboard.
After each group has written their word, show the class a list of concepts and definitions that relate to the day's lesson/reading.
Ask each group to write the list of concepts and definitions below their one word and then write how each of those words connect back to the one word they wrote.
Organize students into groups, have them use whiteboards in the room or a shared digital whiteboard (Microsoft Whiteboard or Zoom Whiteboard).
Organize students into breakout groups, have them use Microsoft Whiteboard or Zoom Whiteboard.
Organize groups by in-person students and online students to help with small group discussions. Have all groups use digital whiteboards (Microsoft Whiteboard or Zoom Whiteboard) for easy comparison between all groups.
Variations:
Pair this with a Gallery Walk (where student groups move around the room or online space to consider work from other groups) and have the students see what other groups wrote and how they connected the concepts.
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