Active Learning in the Classroom

 
Active  learning  has  been  identified  as  one  of  the  seven  principles  of  good  practice  in  
undergraduate  education  (Chickering  &  Gamson,  1987).  For  learning  to  be  active,  students  
must  do  more  than  listen,  the  must  “read,  write,  discuss,  or  be  engaged  in  solving  problems.  
Most  important,  to  be  actively  involved,  students  must  engage  in  such  higher  order  thinking  
tasks  as  analysis,  synthesis,  and  evaluation.”  Students  must  be  doing  things,  and  then  thinking  
about  why  they  are  doing  them.  These  kinds  of  activities  can  include  case  study,  “cooperative  
learning,  debates,  drama,  role  playing  and  simulation,  and  peer  teaching  (Bonwell  &  Eison,  
1991).  
 
According  to  Felder  and  Brent,  as  little  as  five  minutes  of  active  learning  activities  per  fifty-­‐
minute  class  session  can  boost  learning  significantly.  The  benefits  can  be  as  simple  as  waking  
students  up  after  a  dry  or  heavily  technical  lecture.  More  importantly,  “academically  weak  
students  get  the  benefit  of  being  tutored  by  stronger  classmates,  and  stronger  students  get  the  
deep  understanding  that  comes  from  teaching  something  to  someone  else.  Students  who  
successfully  complete  the  task  own  the  knowledge  in  a  way  they  never  would  from  just  
watching  a  lecturer  do  it.  Students  who  are  not  successful  are  put  on  notice  that  they  don’t  
know  something  they  may  need  to  know,  so  when  the  answer  is  provided  shortly  afterwards  
they  are  likely  to  pay  attention  in  a  way  they  never  do  in  traditional  lectures”  (Felder  &  Brent,  
2003).    
 
Active  learning  can  also  be  integrated  into  a  lecture  to  help  break  it  up  into  smaller  chunks  or  to  
keep  it  engaging.  This  can  be  as  simple  as  including  demonstrations,  or  leaving  space  for  class  
discussion.  Two  alternative  lecture  formats,  as  identified  by  Bonwell  and  Eison,  are  the  
feedback  lecture,  “which  consists  of  two  mini-­‐lectures  separated  by  a  small  group  study  session  
built  around  a  study  guide”  and  the  guided  lecture,  in  which  “students  listen  to  a  twenty  to  
thirty  minute  presentation  without  taking  notes,  followed  by  writing  for  five  minutes  what  they  
remember  and  spending  the  remainder  of  the  class  period  in  small  groups  clarifying  and  
elaborating  the  material”  (1991).    
 
In  her  book,  Tools  for  Teaching,  Barbara  Gross  Davis  has  also  presented  alternative  lecture  
formats  that  integrate  the  principles  of  active  learning:    
 
• Interactive  lectures  evolve  around  brainstorming  sessions  instigated  by  a  question  or  
prompts  from  the  instructor  at  key  points  in  the  lecture.  After  gathering  the  responses,  
the  instructor  and  the  class  then  work  together  to  “sort  the  responses  into  categories.  
The  flow  of  examples  and  counterexamples,  generalizations  and  specifics,  or  rules  and  
exceptions  encourages  students  to  grapple  actively  with  the  topic.”  
• Problem solving, demonstrations, proofs, and stories begin “with the instructor
posing a question, paradox, or enigma – some provocative problem that whets students'

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interest… The suspenseful answer unfolds during the class period, with students actively
or passively anticipating or pointing toward solutions.”
• The case study method “follows a realistic situation step by step to illustrate a
general principle or problem-solving strategy. Depending on the level of the students,
either the instructor takes the lead or the students themselves generate the questions
and principles.”
• Short lectures framing discussion periods. This is another version of the guided
lecture method discussed above. Besides engaging students, it also gives the instructor
a break by shifting the energy of the class to students. In this method, the instructor
sets the stage for discussion with a twenty-minute lecture on a particular issue, and
then allows for a fifteen-minute discussion of that issue’s implications and effects. The
instructor then “closes with another short lecture that pulls together the major themes
or issues. In large classes, the discussion segment may be turned over to students
working in trios or small groups” (Gross Davis, 1993).
 
See  the  LTO  handout  on  Facilitating  Discussion  for  more  on  how  to  use  discussion  in  the  
classroom:  http://ryerson.ca/content/dam/lt/resources/handouts/FacilitatingDiscussion.pdf  
 

Classroom Activities
Beyond  lecture  methods,  there  are  assorted  activities  that  can  be  included  during  class  time  to  
encourage  active  learning.    
 
Four  of  these  methods,  think-­‐pair-­‐share,  storytelling,  demonstrations,  and  Twitter,  are  
discussed  in  the  LTO  handout  on  Making  Lectures  More  Engaging:  
http://ryerson.ca/content/dam/lt/resources/handouts/LargeClassesEngagingStudents.pdf  
 
Another  method,  Teaching  With  Case  Studies,  also  is  expanded  on  in  an  LTO  handout:    
http://ryerson.ca/content/dam/lt/resources/handouts/CaseMethodBestPractices.pdf  
 
Some additional examples of active learning techniques can be grouped into the following
categories: “Developing Analytical and Critical Thinking Skills,” “Questions and Answers,” and
“Cooperative Learning Exercises.”

Developing Analytical Skills and Critical Thinking Skills

Modeling Analytical Skills: View and analyze passages of text, paintings, sonatas, graphs,
charts, artifacts, etc. together with your students. Make sure students have a copy of the
document or can view it on a slide or projection, then follow three steps: model the analysis, let
the students practice it, then give them feedback (Waterloo).

Pro and Con Grid: The Pro and Con Grid lists advantages and disadvantages of a given issue.
It forces students to go beyond their initial reactions, search for at least two sides to the issue,

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and weigh the value of competing claims. Let students know how many pros and cons you
expect and whether they should use point form or full sentences. (Waterloo)

Concept Mapping: A concept map is a way of illustrating the connections that exist between
terms or concepts covered in course material. Students connect individual terms with lines
indicating the relationship between each set of connected terms. Most of the terms in a concept
map have multiple connections. Developing a concept map requires the students to identify and
organize information and to establish meaningful relationships between the pieces of
information. (Cal State)

The VUE tool from Tufts University is an open source concept mapping tool currently available
for free download: http://vue.tufts.edu/

Visioning and Futuring: In this real life application of material, have either individual
students or small groups take five to ten minutes to imagine what it will be like ten to twenty
years from now and how the given topic might change, be affected, or impact future
generations. (VCU)

Quotations: This is a particularly useful method of testing student understanding when they
are learning to read texts and identify an author's viewpoint and arguments. After students
have read a representative advocate of each of several opposing theories or schools of thought,
and the relevant concepts have been defined and discussed in class, display a quotation by an
author whom they have not read in the assigned materials, and ask them to figure out what
position that person advocates. In addition to testing comprehension of the material presented
in lecture, this exercise develops critical thinking and analysis skills. (Cal State)

Questions and Answers

One-Minute Paper: Punctuating your class with short writing assignments is a powerful way
to assess the degree to which students understand presented material. You might ask, “What
was the most important thing you learned during this class?” “What questions remained
unanswered?” or “Summarize the main point of today’s lecture in one sentence.” (Waterloo)

Muddiest (or Clearest) Point: This is a variation on the one-minute paper, though you may
wish to give students a slightly longer time period to answer the question. Here you ask (at the
end of a class period, or at a natural break in the presentation), "What was the muddiest point
in today's lecture?" or, perhaps, you might be more specific, asking, for example: "What (if
anything) do you find unclear about the concept of 'personal identity' ('inertia', 'natural
selection', etc.)?" (Cal State)

Fish Bowl: Students are given index cards to write down one or two questions about the
material or practical applications of what’s been covered. The questions are put in "fishbowl"
towards the end of class and the instructor picks a couple to discuss either immediately or at
the beginning of the next class. (VCU)

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Student Summary of Another Student's Answer: This method promotes active listening in
class. After one student has volunteered an answer to your question, ask another student to
summarize the first student's response. Many students hear little of what their classmates have
to say, waiting instead for the instructor to either correct or repeat the answer. Having students
summarize or repeat each others' contributions both fosters active participation by all students
and promotes the idea that learning is a shared enterprise. Given the possibility of being asked
to repeat a classmates' comments, most students will listen more attentively to each other. (Cal
State)

Drill-Review Pairs: In this method, four students are grouped together as two pairs. Each
pair is given two problems/questions to solve. Students are assigned the role of the explainer
(gives step-by-step instructions on how to do the problem) and an accuracy checker (verifies
correctness of methodology used to solve the problem). After the first problem/question is
completed, students switch roles for the second problem. After both are complete, the pairs re-
group and explain their problems and solutions with each other until a consensus is reached.
(VCU)

Cooperative Learning Exercises

Jigsaw Group Projects: In jigsaw projects, each member of a group is asked to complete
some discrete part of an assignment. When every member has completed their assigned task,
the pieces can be joined together to form a finished project. For example, students in a course
in African geography might be grouped and each assigned a country; individual students in the
group could then be assigned to research the economy, political structure, ethnic makeup,
terrain and climate, or folklore of the assigned country. When each student has completed their
research, the group then reforms to complete a comprehensive report. The students then work
together to tackle the difficult problem of how much emphasis should be placed on each piece
of the puzzle. (Cal State)

Panel Discussions Panel discussions are a way of including the entire class when students are
required to give presentations. Student groups are assigned a topic to research and asked to
prepare presentations (this method may readily be combined with the jigsaw method outlined
above). Each panelist is then expected to make a very short presentation before the floor is
opened to questions from the audience. The key to success is to choose topics carefully and to
give students sufficient direction to ensure that they are well prepared for their presentations.
You might also want to prepare the ‘audience’ by assigning them various roles. For example, if
students are presenting the results of their research into several forms of energy, you might
have some of the other students role-play as concerned environmentalists, transportation
officials, commuters, and so forth. (Cal State)

Role Playing: This is an expanded version of the role-play method mentioned in the previous
example. The first step in this method is to give a mini-lecture to establish the context and
setting for the role-playing. Then divide the class into a number of small groups of varying sizes
(if you have a large class, you may have to assign duplicate roles). Each group is assigned a
clearly delineated role and given a specific, concrete task – usually to propose a position and
course of action. To bring closure to the topic, a debriefing exercise is necessary to help identify
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what students learned and make the transition to the next topic. A suggested procedure for
using role-play in the classroom has been devised by the University of Waterloo. They suggest
allowing twenty to thirty minutes to complete the exercise.

• Procedure
o Get scenarios and characters for role-plays from news stories, history books, generic
business situations, or by writing them yourself from scratch.
o Explain why you are using a role-play to cover course material.
o Describe the background context or setting to the role-play.
o Give roles to “players”: hand them a card with a brief description of the character
they’re playing, their point of view, characteristics, etc.
o For groups with more students than possible roles, you can either assign “observer”
tasks to non-players (e.g., taking notes on a particular player), or assign identical
roles to subgroups of students (e.g., one student can play a city council member,
and a sub-group of four or five students can play a homeowners’ coalition).
o Ask for volunteers for certain roles or observers: you may use this as one way to
allot bonus points to students.
o Allow a few minutes for students to prepare for their roles.
o After 10-15 minutes, end the role-play.

• Function in the class: Debrief and discuss the role-play. Use players’ perceptions and
observers’ notes to lead into discussion of course material. Pay special attention to
conflicts, ambiguities, etc. (Waterloo)

Debates: There are several ways of implementing debate in the classroom. In the method
suggested by the University of Waterloo, the class is divided into large groups representing
broad positions. The class could be divided by where they happen to sit, or by asking the class
in advance to seat themselves in the section representing a particular side of the debate. When
some students refuse to choose one side or the other, create a middle ground and invite their
reasons for choosing it. In this method, the debate would be more along the lines of a large
class discussion. (Waterloo)

Northern Illinois University explains a procedure in which the students are divided into smaller
groups or pairs. They break the activity down into two or three rounds, depending on your
objectives and time:

• Round One:
o Team One: Presentation of “Pro/positive” or “Arguments for” (10 minutes)
o Team Two: Presentation of “Con/negative” or “Arguments against (10 minutes)
o Team Discussion Period allowing teams to prepare their responses (5 minutes)
• Round Two
o Team One: Response or rebuttal of “Pro/positive” or “Arguments for” (5 minutes)
o Team Two: Response or rebuttal of “Con/negative” or “Arguments against (5
minutes)
• Round Three: Teams have further opportunities to respond

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• Whole Class Discussion: Determine which team provided the most convincing
arguments. This could be done through a simple vote or a more detailed evaluation
form.

• Debate Procedure
o Prepare guidelines and a set of rules to assist students in preparing for the
debate
§ Include a time frame and instructions on how to present the material
§ Allow non-debate students to adjudicate, helping them learn to be
objective in rating their peers’ performance
o Provide students with resources on debate techniques and structure. Consider
holding a practice debate.
o Have students prepare brief “position papers” which also include their reaction to
the debate process and how they were able to reach consensus with their team.
o Select the format you plan to use, i.e. teams, individual, class
o Research controversial, news breaking, and stimulating topics to encourage
dynamic and energized classroom discussion. If students see the relevancy of
the topic or can relate to it in some way, they are more likely to dedicate time,
effort, and passion to the process
o Review the guidelines and procedures in class to address any questions or
requests for clarification
o Provide adjudicators with rating rubrics to guide their evaluation
o Begin the debate, giving students as much autonomy as possible
o Facilitate discussion and debrief the process at the end of the debate period
o Distribute both student and instructor evaluations to the teams
o Have a plan in place if the debate gets “hot” and students begin to argue. Have
guidelines in place to minimize inappropriate behavior. (Northern Illinois
University)

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Work Cited
Derrig, M. (2008). Active Learning Techniques. Center for Teaching Excellence, Virginia
Commonwealth University. Retrieved from:
http://www.vcu.edu/cte/resources/active_learning.htm

Center for Teaching Excellence. Active Learning Activities. University of Waterloo. Retrieved
from
http://cte.uwaterloo.ca/teaching_resources/tips/varying_your_teaching_activities.html

Bonwell, C.C. & Eison, J.A. (1991). Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom. ERIC
Digest. Retrived from:
http://www.oid.ucla.edu/about/units/tatp/old/lounge/pedagogy/downloads/active-
learning-eric.pdf

Chickering, A.W. & Gamson, Z.F. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate
Education. Washington Center News. Retrieved from:
http://www.lonestar.edu/multimedia/SevenPrinciples.pdf

Felder, R.M. & Brent, R. (2003). Learning By Doing. Chemical Engineering Education. 37:4.
Retrieved from:
(http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Columns/Active.pdf

Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center. Classroom Debates. Northern Illinois
University. Retrieved from:
http://www.niu.edu/facdev/resources/guide/strategies/classroom_debates.pdf

Paulson, D.R. & Faust, J.L. Techniques of Active Learning. California State University. Retrieved
from http://www.calstatela.edu/dept/chem/chem2/Active/main.htm

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