Active Learning

Selected Active Learning Strategies (examples for 10/10 meeting)

CLUSTERS: In clusters, group participants are divided into smaller groups for discussion. They may also be allowed to self-select the small group they want to be in. After discussing the assigned topic the cluster may report their findings to the large group.

  • If possible, see that each group is provided a space on the board to record important points of their discussion. 
  • Allow time for each group to report back to the large group. You may have to assign someone from each group to report back.

CONCEPT MAPPING: Students are asked to create some kind of diagram that illustrates the connections between different. Another version is when students are given the diagram – say, a tree, or a web – and asked to fill in the picture with concepts, terms or ideas. This activity can help students understand causality, the sequencing of an event, or the proportions or relationships between things.

GALLERY WALK: The instructor places “exhibits” around the room, which could be images, quotes or excerpts from a reading, memes, advertisements, student work examples, or something else. Individually (or in groups) students go from exhibit to exhibit writing down their thoughts or adding their own commentary to the exhibit (e.g., with sticky notes or using markers).

INTERACTIVE POLLS AND QUIZZES: A strategy used as a conversation starter or to get students interested, intrigued and participating. The instructor might start class with a short, low-stakes quiz or conduct a poll via online survey, then go over the results together. Kahoot is also a good tool for this.

INTERVIEWING: In groups of two, students interview each other about the class content, with an optional third person playing the role of observer. Students rotate their roles. This strategy encourages students to develop their own questions about material they might not fully understand, make attempts at formulating ideas, and interpreting/synthesizing/summarizing what they heard.

ROLE PLAY: Students are given characters or roles to play, often to simulate a conflict or a dilemma. The activity challenges students to express ideas from different vantage points or to understand different perspective; it also encourages creative problem solving and students taking ownership of an issue or a topic. Role play activities can be elaborate and become the centerpiece of a classroom experience, or they can be quick and just meant to generate discussion or advance thinking.

STICKY NOTE DISCUSSION: Students are given a few sticky notes and use them to respond to a class prompt or pose questions themselves. They put the sticky notes in the appropriate place on the board – perhaps under subject headings or below prompts – and then go around reading other people’s notes. A second step to this activity would be for students to respond to their classmates’ sticky notes by writing another note below someone else’s. This is a version of the Gallery Walk activity.

STRUCTURED CLASSROOM DEBATE: Versions of this include Socratic seminar (students form a large circle and someone, usually but not always the instructor, poses questions for discussion), fishbowl debate (an “inner circle” of students gets to debate an issue while around the peripheries the rest of the students must listen and take notes), Lincoln-Douglas (where students are assigned one side or another and must argue from that position) or other creative structures that the instructor might use. These activities invite students to take stances and assert their voices, often employing a lower-stakes situation (especially if the debates happen in smaller groups first).

THINK/PAIR/SHARE: This process requires three stages. The students should be given a question, concept, or problem and then encouraged to think about it alone for a (short) designated time period. Then they pair with another student and discuss what they found individually for an additional time period. Lastly, the pairs join the large group and discuss their conclusions as a whole.

More Comprehensive Lists of Active Learning Strategies

Individual Active Learning Strategies

Collaborative Learning Strategies

Problem Solving Strategies

What is “Active Learning” Pedagogical Design?

Designing for active learning involves learning experiences where students engage with, construct, and apply knowledge and skills while they develop an understanding of their own learning processes. The following criteria reflect components of active learning at JJAY; they were developed by a JJAY faculty working group in 2020-21.  (scroll down for more descriptive information for each criterion.)

  1. Participate in authentic projects and activities that link to real world issues, disciplinary, or professional activities.
  2. Make connections between course content and personal and professional goals and/or prior experiences.
  3. Collaborate with peers and assess the impacts of teamwork and collaboration.
  4. Integrate self-regulated learning strategies as an approach to coursework.
  5. Practice embodied learning in and outside the classroom.

__________________________________________________________________________

  1. Participate in authentic projects and activities that link to real world issues, disciplinary, or professional activities. Examples may include:
    1. Employ diverse modes for students to present and explain learning, that mirror knowledge sharing and research practices in a variety of workplace and academic contexts, including writing in a field-specific genre, producing research papers for technical and non-technical audiences, designing multimodal digital presentations, planning live presentations, facilitating conversations, or other strategies
    2. Develop awareness of audience for and purpose of course assignments 
  2. Make connections between course content and personal and professional goals and/or prior experiences. Examples may include:
    1. Develop understandings of key theories and problems in the context of a particular occupation or current issue
    2. Identify applications of course content in varied professional roles
    3. Make connections between past experiences and course materials 
  3. Collaborate with peers and assess the impacts of teamwork and collaboration. Examples may include:
    1. Participate informal or formal collaborations, from informal activities in class meetings to semester long projects
    2. Develop norms and standards for collaboration with peers and professors
    3. Identify and practice different roles in collaborations
    4. Assess impacts of collaboration on learning
    5. Communicate appropriately with peers to achieve tasks
  4. Integrate self-regulated learning strategies as an approach to coursework. Examples may include:
    1. Develop sense of capability and confidence to meet course goals
    2. Create and enact plans to meet course goals
    3. Interact with or observe others’ approach to meeting course goals
    4. Reflect upon current vs. desired knowledge, skills and abilities in relationship to course goals
    5. Identify and analyze successes, challenges and next steps in the learning process
  5. Practice embodied learning in and outside the classroom. Examples may include:
    1. Use varied modes to interact with peers and professors in and outside the classroom
    2. Participate in activities outside the classroom to advance course learning goals
    3. Explore social, physical and emotional responses to course content
    4. Connect lived experience to course content

Active Learning Bibliography