Active Learning Activities

A teacher wrote to me: “I would like to use Active Learning method in my class for this new school year. I have read many articles on your blog, but I do not know how to change my class activities to Active Learning. Please advise.”

Answer: “I am glad that you are changing the teaching method to benefit your students. In designing an Active Learning class, the best way is to focus on each chapter in the textbook to make sure students will learn well and master it before moving on to the next.

For each chapter, you need to establish clear “learning goals” for the chapter by asking: “What do I want students to learn in this chapter?”, “What do they need to know?”, “What skills they will develop by completing this chapter? Once you have a few learning goals, you may need to design activities to help students to meet those goals.

For designing the class activities, you may ask yourself: “What type of reading assignment that I want to give to students BEFORE they come to class?” You may select a few short articles from technical magazines, websites, blogs, or newspapers relating to the chapter’s topics. In the beginning, try to find some current news that students will be interested in to get them read. To ensure that they read the assigned materials before class, you may design a short quiz with questions relating to the materials, or you could develop questions that you will ask students to answer in class. If they read the assigned reading, they should be able to answer them. You may ask yourself: “”How many questions that I need to develop so I can ask students in the class?” “How do I facilitate the class discussion?” “What type of test should I give in the end to ensure students develop the needed knowledge?” and “Are there any other activities should I do to help students to meet the learning goals?

I know that these activities require some efforts, but after a few times, it would be easier and became part of your teaching skills. Designing Active learning class activities requires a creative mind and willing to learn from mistakes because every class will be different. You should start slowly to get students familiar with the new teaching method and always remind them about the benefit of being a “Lifelong learners” for their future career.

After each class, you will need to step back to reflect on what you do. Over time, you will see the big picture that is emerging about this teaching method. Active learning is something that cannot be explained, but you have to experience it to enjoy it.

Sources

  • Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University

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