Active Learning Learning Experience Project Collected Definitions
How do we define Active Learning? The following is an edited collection of various definitions of active learning and an attempt to create a short, concise definition from them all. No one definition covers all active learning examples. More complete documents with activities and evidence for the using the activities are found in the shared drive. S:/Action Projects/Learning Experience/Pubic/Active Learning/Active Learning Examples.
Active Learning: an Introduction "You are doing active learning in your class when you ask a question, pose a problem, or issue some other type of challenge; tell your students to work individually or in small groups to come up with a response; give them some time to do it; stop them, and call on one or more individuals or groups to share their responses."
Richard M. Felder, Hoechst Celanese Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering North Carolina State University Rebecca Brent, President, Education Designs, Inc. Cary, North Carolina
Active Learning: an Introduction (cont'd)
"You are not doing active learning when you lecture, ask questions that the same few students always answer, or conduct discussions that engage only a small fraction of the class.“
Richard M. Felder, Hoechst Celanese Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering North Carolina State University Rebecca Brent, President, Education Designs, Inc. Cary, North Carolina
Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom
Students must do more than just listen: They 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. Within this context, it is proposed that strategies promoting active learning be defined as instructional activities involving students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing. Use of these techniques in the classroom is vital because of their powerful impact upon students' learning.
Bonwell, Charles C. - Eison, James A. ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education Washington DC. George Washington Univ. Washington DC.
Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom (Cont’d)
For example, several studies have shown that students prefer strategies promoting active learning to traditional lectures. Other research studies evaluating students' achievement have demonstrated that many strategies promoting active learning are comparable to lectures in promoting the mastery of content but superior to lectures in promoting the development of students' skills in thinking and writing. Further, some cognitive research has shown that a significant number of individuals have learning styles best served by pedagogical techniques other than lecturing.
Bonwell, Charles C. - Eison, James A. ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education Washington DC. George Washington Univ. Washington DC.
What Is Active Learning? Students and their learning needs are at the center of active learning. There are any number of teaching strategies that can be employed to actively engage students in the learning process, including group discussions, problem solving, case studies, role plays, journal writing, and structured learning groups. The benefits to using such activities are many. They include improved critical thinking skills, increased retention and transfer of new information, increased motivation, and improved interpersonal skills.
Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Minnesota University Office Plaza, Suite 400, 2221 University Ave. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55414
What Is Active Learning? (cont'd) Using active learning does not mean abandoning the lecture format, but it does take class time. Lecturers who use active learning pause frequently during the period–once every fifteen minutes or so–to give students a few minutes to work with the information they're providing. They may ask students to respond to a question, to summarize important concepts in writing, or compare notes with a partner.
Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Minnesota University Office Plaza, Suite 400, 2221 University Ave. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55414
What Is Active Learning? (cont'd)
For some lecture-based classes, using active learning may be a bit more challenging because of class size or room limitations such as fixed seating. Breaking students into groups under these circumstances may not be possible, but other strategies such as individual writing or paired activities are quite possible and lead to good results.
Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Minnesota University Office Plaza, Suite 400, 2221 University Ave. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55414
Greenwood Dictionary of Education The process of having students engage in some activity that forces them to reflect upon ideas and how they are using those ideas. Requiring students to regularly assess their own degree of understanding and skill at handling concepts or problems in a particular discipline. The attainment of knowledge by participating or contributing. The process of keeping students mentally, and often physically, active in their learning through activities that involve them in gathering information, thinking and problem solving.
From a Former Harvard President “The vast and rapidly growing accumulation of information and knowledge has implications at all levels of education. In the colleges, the most apparent need is to change the emphasis of instruction away from transmitting fixed bodies of information toward preparing students to engage in a continuing acquisition of knowledge and understanding. In terms of pedagogy, the preparation for continuous learning implies a shift toward more active forms of instruction.� (Bok, 1986, p. 165).
Overbaughs' synapses synopsis
Active learning is the intentional, planned use of organized classroom activities that alter the responsibility for learning from instructor to facilitator and learner. Learners regularly assess their own degree of understanding, critical thinking and skill when using concepts or problem solving in a particular discipline.
These definitions were collected as part of the larger Action Project, "The Learning Experience"