“Active learning” is a term that gets thrown around a lot when we talk about improving higher education. But what does it mean?
It probably means different things to different people, but the core element is getting students to participate actively in their own learning. Instead of asking them to sit quietly while we lecture, we are asking them to develop ideas, to practice solving problems, and to talk to and listen to their peers.
Some active-learning techniques are easier to use in your class and some are harder. Here is a quick guide to some simple but effective techniques:
Think-pair-share
After delivering a one-way lecture for about 10 to 15 minutes, you can ask your students to do “think-pair-share.”
“Think”: The first step is to pose an interesting question about the material you just lectured on and to ask the students to write their response in their notes. As my colleague, Yasumasa Ishida from NAIST in Japan, pointed out, the question should be complicated enough that the students need to think hard about it but not so complicated that they get discouraged.
“Pair”: The second step is to ask them to discuss their response with the person next to them.
“Share”: The third step is to ask some pairs to share their answers with the whole class. During this last step, you can comment on the responses so the students can learn even more. Remember to be positive so that people are happy to “share” in the future.
Anonymous responses
If you are concerned that your students will be too shy to discuss, another simple technique is to ask for anonymous responses to a question you pose. Ask everyone to write their response for about two minutes (or an appropriate amount of time for the question) on a blank sheet of paper; then collect all responses at once. Quickly read through the responses. Share one or two interesting responses with the whole class. Discuss both very good responses and even responses that are not quite right, with a discussion of what would make those responses better.
End-of-lesson feedback
Save five minutes at the end of the lecture. Ask all students to take out a piece of paper and answer two questions:
- What do you see as the most important point of today’s lecture?
- What do you still not understand clearly after today’s lecture?
Review the responses after class, and respond to them at the beginning of lecture the next day. You can learn at least two things from these questions: From Question 1, you learn whether the students understood the main point of the lesson, and from Question 2, you learn how many students are confused by which issues.
Do you use other techniques that could be considered “active learning”? Share them with us!