What is active learning? 

Active learning is based on a theory of learning called constructivism. This learning theory emphasizes that individuals learn through building their knowledge, connecting new ideas and experiences to existing knowledge and experiences to form new or enhanced understanding (Bransford et al., 2000).

So, active learning is an approach where students are cognitively engaged in the learning process. They build knowledge and understanding by relating what they’re learning with existing knowledge and think critically to practise using new knowledge and skills.

Indeed, within this learning approach, there are four cognitive processes students are involved in: Identifying relevant material to attend to, organizing attended material into meaningful representations, integrating it with prior knowledge, and applying it in new situations.

This means active learning engages students in the process of learning as opposed to passively listening to teachers and following directions.

Why is active learning important to students? 

Research has consistently found that higher student achievement and engagement are associated with instructional methods involving active learning techniques (Freeman et al, 2014).

Because when students think to use what they’ve learned they’re more likely to develop long-term recall and a deeper understanding. That deeper understanding will also enable them to connect different ideas together and to think creatively.

Encouraging students to think to build both knowledge and understanding is key to supporting them to develop their problem-solving skills and thrive in their future careers.

Research evidence also shows that active learning increases students’ satisfaction and positive attitude towards course material as well as their self-confidence and self-reliance (Springer et al., 1998).

Besides, involving students in their learning process can make them feel in charge of their learning and so motivated to learn and improve. This will also allow them to develop their metacognitive thinking, learn how to learn, and hone the necessary lifelong learning skills.

Active learning strategies 

Active learning does not necessarily require small classes and developed resources. It can take place even in large classes and with limited resources.

It rather depends on what students are doing to contribute to their learning progress. Indeed, research on active learning suggests that student learning success depends much less on what instructors do than what they ask their students to do (Halpern & Hakel, 2003).

So, students play an essential role in the learning process rather than rely on teachers’ lectures and reciting information. Therefore, to integrate active learning we need to rethink our teaching methodology, plan carefully for effective instruction that involves whole-class discussion and call upon students’ engagement and production.

To achieve this goal in practice here are some essential active learning strategies we need to get our students engaged in.

1. Integrating prior knowledge

Students come to learn with prior beliefs, skills, and experiences that influence how they learn. So, their prior knowledge is deemed essential in building their knowledge and skills.

When students relate their new learning to existing ideas, they engage in a process of analyzing, filtering, and evaluating how those ideas are connected in a way that enables them to make progress. So, they make effortful mental processing and get more active in learning.

Therefore, we should activate students’ prior learning, and help them to make links with new material. Here are two activities that can help you achieve this goal.

#Connect-Extend-Challenge

Within this activity, students are asked to think of three questions (individually or in groups). These aim to encourage them to reflect on their prior background knowledge, identify new learning and think about how new knowledge challenges or puzzles.

CONNECT: How are the ideas and information presented in this lesson CONNECTED to what you already knew?

EXTEND: What new ideas did you get from this lesson that EXTENDED or pushed your thinking in new directions?

CHALLENGE: What is still CHALLENGING or confusing for you to get your mind around? What questions, wonderings, or puzzles do you now have?

You can pose the questions verbally, add them to a slide or flipchart paper or prepare a handout with the Connect-Extend-Challenge questions. Be sure to allow students some time to respond (approx. 5–7 minutes), and to collect and discuss their responses (approx. 10 minutes).

# Case studies

Case studies adopt a ‘Problem-Based Learning’ (PBL) approach whereby learning is based on real-life, authentic, and complex problems. Real-life stories that describe what happened to a community, family, school, industry, or individual can also engage students in deep reflection on their beliefs and values.

Students should carefully analyse the problem/issue. Small group discussions can be used to share, elaborate, and refine solutions while also offering opportunities for students to view the problem/issue from a range of perspectives.

2. Retrieving from memory

Another active learning strategy is repeated and spaced retrieval of learned information. This can help improve long-term retention and the ability to learn new material.

You can increase opportunities for student retrieval by:

• Pausing for two or three minutes every 15 minutes, having students write everything they can remember from the preceding class segment. You can also pause for two minutes to encourage students to discuss and rework notes in pairs;
• using low-stakes quizzes, and providing practice tests with feedback;
• prompting students at regular intervals to answer questions while listening to lectures or viewing videos.

3. Generating ideas and connections

In this active learning strategy, students are asked to generate connections, questions, and ideas. This is important in processing new learning and fostering understanding. So, instead of passively absorbing information students are prompted to reflect on their learning and share their knowledge and understanding.

Some activities:

#Minute Paper

This is a brief classroom exercise that can be used to encourage students to reflect on their learning. You pose one or more questions related to the current lesson, and your students are asked to quickly write their responses and submit them. Ask students to share responses to stimulate discussion or collect all responses to inform future class sessions.

#Think-pair-share

Students work on a given problem individually for a few minutes. So, you need to address a question that requires higher-order thinking (see Bloom’s taxonomy). Then they turn to a peer to discuss their responses for two minutes. Each group can share responses and follow up with instructor’s explanation. Encourage them to ask questions so that this in turn leads to a class discussion during which all solutions are investigated.

#Four Corners

The strategy requires minimal preparation and gets students moving (Ferguson & Atkins, 2019). For this strategy, ask a question (or statement). In each corner of the classroom, post four answer choices to the question. Ask students to select one of the posted responses and stand next to it.  They also need to explain to others at their corner why they selected their chosen response.

You can use this activity as a warm-up activity by asking students to respond to a question or statement that they will encounter in the lesson. It may also be used as a check for understanding after a particular concept has been covered.

#Jigsaw discussion

This is one form of a cooperative learning strategy where students work in groups and share their understanding.

You can take any topic that you have just covered during class and divide it into 3-4 sub-topics (main ideas or covered elements). Divide the class into small (Jigsaw) groups whereby the number of students in each group matches the number of sub-topics. Assign each student a different sub-topic.

Individual students must research their assigned sub-topic before joining up in expert groups with students who have been assigned the same sub-topic. Allow sufficient time for the expert groups to discuss their understanding of the sub-topic and prepare material/information to present to their own Jigsaw group. This group discussion usually results in a deeper understanding of the sub-topic through peer learning.

It is important to encourage questions and group discussion at this stage while also ensuring that all group members are engaging. You can finish with a debriefing exercise whereby students have an opportunity to provide feedback and suggestions for future improvements.

4. Self-questioning and decision making

Research suggests that using self-questioning while reading a textbook, listening to lectures, or viewing videos can support students to engage in the active processing required to create enduring and transferable knowledge.

These questions can include for instance: What does this concept mean? What are the key ideas? Why is it important to learn about this? How does this relate to X idea? What makes this concept different from Z concept? etc.

Decision-making activities can also enhance active learning since they help students critically consider a challenging problem and encourage them to think of possible solutions. Here are some examples of activities.

#Town Hall Meeting

This activity aims to make students familiar with procedural decision-making through democratic processes in the context of their course topics and themes (Savelle,2019)

To do this activity, think of a relevant topic for the class (controversies, future project proposals or adapting to new government regulations, etc.). Consider the project from the viewpoint of each of the different stakeholders and the potential impact of each decision. You can imagine the stakeholder’s identity or take it directly from the case study.

Organise students into groups based on the number of stakeholders.  Give every member of the group a stakeholder sheet and allow him/her an opportunity to interpret the stakeholder’s position from individually reading the task.

In groups, students should spend 5–10 minutes brainstorming how they will present their case in the Town Hall meeting. While doing so, check their progress and provide support and guidance on how to approach their stakeholder’s arguments.

A speaker is nominated from each group to present each stakeholder’s argument based on notes they have taken during the previous brainstorming discussion.

Then, students argue in support of or against elements of a proposed solution. They should recognize that the most effective way to make large-scale decisions is not to convince others of their own point of view but to use all perspectives to arrive at a reasonable consensus upon which most can agree.

#Case-based learning

This can support students to explore in-depth concepts and problems. Provide students with a case/an issue. Ask them to decide what they know that is relevant to the case, what other information they may need, and what impact their decisions may have. In groups (3-5) students consider responses, ask questions, and provide help as needed. Also, encourage groups to share responses.

To help all our students learn from those opportunities we need to provide adequate time to accomplish the tasks, constructive feedback, and opportunities for scaffolding. We CAN help our students get engaged in active sense-making and knowledge construction. We all need to believe in that.

References

Bransford, J., Brown, A., & Cocking, R. (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

Ferguson, C. & Atkins, B. (2019). FOUR Corners. In S.Ferns & N. Duffy (Eds.), Active Learning Strategies for Higher Education: the Practical Handbook(pp.95-118).The Centre for Higher Education Research, Policy & Practice (CHERPP): Dublin.

Freeman, S., Eddy, S.L., McDonough, M., Smith, M.K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., and Wenderoth, M.P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 111, 8410-8415.

Halpern, D. F., & Hakel, M. D. (2003, July). Applying the science of learning. Change, 36–41.

Savelle, R. (2019). TOWN HALL. In S. Ferns & N. Duffy (Eds.), Active Learning Strategies for Higher Education: the Practical Handbook(pp.119-146).The Centre for Higher Education Research, Policy & Practice (CHERPP): Dublin.

Springer, L., Stanne, M.E., Donovan, S.S. (1999). Effects of small-group learning on undergraduates in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. Rev. Educ. Res. 69, 21–51.