Active Learning Strategies

Confucius said, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” This quote really is applicable to a concept that is gaining more and more attention: active learning in the classroom. In the past, the traditional teaching model has been that the student listens, while the teacher presents material. This inactive model of teaching has prompted many researchers, such as C. Bonwell and J. Eison, to examine how students really learn best.

So, what does research have to say about some of those traditional modes of teaching? Currently, there is confirmation that students do best when they are involved in their own learning. It has been said that when students learn actively, they are able to remember content for longer periods of time and more readily apply it.

With that being said, I guess this begs the question of what is active learning? Active learning involves providing opportunities for students to meaningfully talk and listen, write, read, and reflect on the content, ideas, issues, and concerns of an academic subject” (Meyers and Jones, 1993, p6).

In this first post on my blog, I want to present some learning strategies that would help teachers promote active learning in their classroom.

Jigsaw- this is a strategy that involves cooperative learning and gets students to be involved in their own learning. The way that it works is that students are divided into groups of 3 or 4. Each member in the group is numbered (1,2,3, or 4) and that is their home base team. Each person in this group is responsible for different subtopics of content. Then, what happens is the ones get with the ones, twos get with the twos, etc and they work to investigate their one subtopic. Once research has been conducted, the home base groups get back together and take turns teaching students in their home base group. While each member in the home base group is teaching to the other members, you can have members record key information in graphic organizers. You can also have the person who is teaching make up their own story problems and have the other students practice the concept.

Reciprocal Learning- this is a strategy that works to promote student partnerships where two different roles are taking place. One student acts as a player, while the other acts as a coach. The way that this strategy works is that you create a set of reciprocal learning sheets to give to each student. The students are working in groups of two and Player A has a copy of Player B’s problems with hints and coaching tips. Player B has a copy of Player A’s problems with hints and coach tips. Together, one acts as a coach and one acts as a player. At the end of this task, there is some sort of cooperative challenge for the students to solve together after they both took their turns acting as a coach and player.

Active learning during lecture- some strategies to use during lecture are as follows:
1.) Give students a set of questions to answer during the lecture.
2.) Take periodic breaks during lecture and ask students to jot down questions they are having.
3.) Give powerpoint notes that have some blanks missing where students are forced to fill in the blanks.
4.) When one student answers a question in class, ask another student to summarize the first students’ response.
5.) Give students a chance to turn to their partner and restate what they heard in their own words to their partner.
6.) Give students a chance to pair up and have one student explain a concept to their partner. Then, have the other student paraphrase (What you’re saying is….)what their partner said.
7.) In the middle of the lecture, stop and ask students to write a short list of everything they know/learned about the topic at hand.
8.) Give students questions to answer as they watch the powerpoint, video, or other multimedia.
9.) Place questions in a paper bag and give the bag to a group of students. One student picks a strip with a question on it and the group must answer the question together. If a question is pulled that you have not covered, put it back and grab a different strip. Then, the group reports their answer to the class.

Write Around- Students are asked place their initials on their paper and answer the question that is posed to them. This question may ask for students to summarize the lesson, it may have students respond with what they learned or wondered about, etc. Then, the teacher tells the students to respond and when time is up, their paper is passed to another student in class. That new student initials their paper and responds to what the first person wrote on their paper. This transfer of paper takes place a few times and then the paper is passed back to its original owner.

Writing a ‘How to’ piece- in math, I have students write complete instructions on how to solve problems all the time. Then, we give the instructions to a different student and ask him/her to follow the directions. If he/she can get through them, then the directions worked out. If not, the student goes back to revise them.

Peer teaching/tutoring- students get in small groups and teach other students about a topic. Make sure to give the kids a heads up on different activities and active learning techniques they can do in their “lessons.”

Transfer of Control- this allows for the students to take on the role as the teacher and serve as the facilitator. One easy way to do this is by giving the students the pen to the overhead and have them come up individually or in groups and present how to do something to the class.

Brainstorm/Factstorm- this can be used as an activity to activate prior knowledge as you begin a new unit. It works by asking a multiple response question and kids brainstorm on large sheets of paper everything they can think of in regards to the question being asked.

Think-Pair-Share- the way that I like to run this activity is that I devise a sheet that says THINK on the top and the question I am posing is written there. I provide blanks for students to write down any thought that they may need to jot down. Below that is a section titled PAIR and it explicitly states that the students must turn to their partner and explain what he/she feels the answer is to the question and vice versa. Then, students take time to SHARE this information aloud with the rest of the class.

Leveled Questions- teach students question answer relationships and the types of leveled questions available. Then have students create leveled questions and have them swap papers with their partners to answer their questions.

Journals- as a starter, students can respond to questions in journals and use those as a segue way to the lesson being presented. You can also use journals in the middle of a lesson or at the closing, where students must summarize what they learned.

Posters- students can work in groups or individually to design posters where kids respond to questions, illustrate how to do a problem, etc.

Comparing notes- this is when you ask kids to exchange notes and others are able to jot down anything that they see could aid in helping understand the concept.

Intentional Errors- give students an example of a problem done incorrectly and have them work through it to try and explain what the error is.

Gallery Walk- this technique actually gets the kids out of their chairs! Using higher leveled thinking questions, you post more than one piece of chart paper around the room with a question on it. Students are then assigned to groups of three and each person has a role. One person is the leader, who keeps the group on task. The other is the recorder who will write out the group's answer on a sticky note and place it on the poster. Another member is a reporter, who will present the group’s thoughts to the class. Give students a rubric that explains how they will be assessed on answering the questions, their behavior, and presentation to the class.

Ticket out the door- this is a summative technique that allows use as a teacher to ask a question of higher order to the students. In order to leave the room, students must answer this question. Another technique that could be used in place of this is posting a large sheet of paper on the door and students can write what they learned for the day on the paper.

Wipe boards- present a problem on the board for the students to solve. Give them a certain number of minutes and when you say, ‘BOARDS UP’, students show their work on their wipeboard with the answer to your problem.

Choral Responding- pose a question to the students and in unison, they respond with the answer.

Students make up their own problem/quiz problem- in math, I often have students make up their own problem and give it to another student or group to solve after I have looked it over.

Numbered Heads- ask students to number off in their teams from one to four. Give a question and set the timer for x minutes. In groups, students work to solve the problem and together come up with an answer. Then, when the timer goes off, call a number and each person with that number from the group has to stand and answer the question.