Teaching Strategies
Engaging Students through Active Learning
What is active learning?
Active learning is when students are involved in the learning process, rather than just passively absorbing information. Students are required to do meaningful learning activities and think about what they are doing. Active learning strategies do not replace lecturing. Rather, breaking up teaching time with active learning tasks offers an opportunity for students to engage in deeper learning. There are many ways to promote active learning while teaching depending on your comfort level, time constraints, and the learning outcomes. Activities can be designed for individuals, pairs, small groups, or an entire class and can be as long or short as time permits. Some examples can be found below!
Activities
Whole-Class Discussions
Class discussions are a great way to get students engaged in the material. You can ask a provocative question or show a video and ask everyone their thoughts. This allows students to learn from each other and have some autonomy over their learning.
Small-Group Discussions
Smaller discussion groups are helpful for students who may be uncomfortable speaking out in front of the class and can be a good way for students to get to know each other. They encourage students to work collaboratively on a task and to use teamwork skills. You can have students brainstorm an idea together and then have one student share their group’s idea with the class.
Tips for Leading Discussions
- After posing the question, give students time to think about their response. Silence may feel awkward at first, but it is helpful for students to take a moment to form an answer.
- If students don’t respond, try rephrasing the question in a different way or provide an example that will prompt them to think of an idea/response.
- Let students know ahead of time what the topic for the discussion will be so they can prepare.
- Make an effort to observe the entire room so that you are letting everyone have a turn to respond.
- Encourage students to reply to one another and to engage in critical dialogue.
- If someone asks a question during the discussion, pose the question to the class to keep up student engagement and to keep the conversation flowing before jumping in with the answer.
Think-Pair-Share
This technique allows for multiple points of thought to happen around a specific topic. Students will first think independently about a concept/idea. Then, students will pair up with 1 or more students to collaborate and further refine their ideas. Once everyone has done this, each group will share their ideas with the class. As the GA/TA, you can provide a summary of everyone’s ideas after the discussions have ended to tie together everyone’s points.
Jigsaw
The benefit of doing a jigsaw activity is that students get to become experts on a topic and then teach it. Teaching is known to help students learn and retain information better. To run a jigsaw activity, students need to be equally split up into “home” groups. In their home groups, they will get a specific topic (e.g., Bandura’s theory of modeling, Piaget’s stages of development) and they will become experts about the topic within a specific time frame (e.g., 15 minutes). Each member of every group will then split up into another group. In these new groups, there should be one student from every “home group” (e.g., a person from group 1, 2, 3, and 4). Each person will then go around and teach their new group members about the topic that they became experts on.
Additional Active Learning Strategies
- Use games to encourage student participation (e.g., Kahoot!, Mentimeter, etc.).
- Develop case studies for students to work on alone, in pairs, or in groups and then discuss their work afterward.
- Set up debates that encourage students to participate and use critical thinking. It can be helpful to give students the topics ahead of time so they can plan accordingly.
- Use exit tickets to gauge what students are learning and to give them a chance for self-reflection. Exit tickets can be a quick one-minute activity or a larger one-page reflection journal that are submitted.
To learn more ways to engage students, visit Western University’s Centre for Teaching and Learning’s Active Learning website or view this recorded interactive workshop.
Considerations for Activities
As you develop your lesson plan, the following are key considerations when selecting activities:
- Are you facilitating a lab, tutorial, delivering a guest lecture, or teaching some other way?
- What are your learning outcomes and how will the participatory activities help to facilitate students’ achievement of these outcomes?
- What are you seeking to achieve through the activity? E.g., Brainstorming, reflection, analysis of a concept, problem solving, application of a concept, discussion, peer feedback
- What are your time constraints?
- What is your class size? There are several activities that can be scaled up to accommodate a large number of students.
- What is your mode of delivery (e.g., face-to-face, online, hybrid)?
Additional Resources for Active Learning Strategies
References
- Chittle, L., Coyne, P., Ismail, E., & Muir, I., (2023). The Graduate Teaching and Learning Fellowship Program: Fellowship Handbook., Centre for Teaching and Learning, University of Windsor.
- Prince, M. (2004). Does active learning work? A review of the research. Journal of Engineering Education, 93(3), 223-231