Hi Doris,
What a great way to promote active learner, and I love how you are involved in the entire process. We must act as facilitators even when students are learning in an active setting.
Patricia Scales
When I have an administrative topic such as scheduling and the different types of laws (criminal or civil) for the Medical Assistant program, I will break that down into sections. I have the students discuss the types of laws and give examples. I give the students the freedom to present the information in whatever form they want to use. I will monitor what they are doing and when they have a question, I am prepared to help them.
I teach a math course. After introducing a new concept, I give the students some problems to solve. Their answers are then compared. This keeps them awake, and also reinforces what is being taught.
Hi Pamela,
I normally lecture first in my computer labs, show my students the various concepts, and then let them perform the various concepts based on my lecture and demonstrations.
Patricia Scales
Hi James,
Sharing how the lesson relate to the real world certainly adds more excitement in the classroom. Allowing your students to tell/share adds excitement as well.
Patricia Scales
At the beginning of class, we have daily dosage calculation, . I have the students try them first then, I go over the calculation with the students, having them give me the answers. I will walk around the class checking everyone paper. Others will give me the ways that they are doing it and share their methods.
During my introducation to computers classes generally I begin with a lecture. However, recently, I have started to use a more hands on approach ultlizing powerpoints, lecture, and hands-on work as we go lab. This has helped students get a better understanding of the material presented.
After a lecture I try to use things in the lecture and apply it to the things that they can relate to. This seems to remove some of the bordem in the class.
I have put my own spin on the Jeopardy review, which we do just before the final. I call it "Farmyard Jeopardy." I divide the students into teams and assign each team a farm animal (ducks, pigs, cows, etc.) To signal that they want to answer the question, they have to make their animal sound. It's hysterical! It really lightens the stress just before finals. The different sounds make it easy to tell which team responded first. I did not even try this with one particularly "not fun" class, but the rest have all loved it!
Many of my classes involve learning a lot of vocabulary or relationships (where muscles originate and insert, etc.), so to review those, we play Bingo. There are Bingo-card generators online. The students really enjoy that, also.
Hi Irina,
Great way to help students retain information. My students really enjoy play games, namely jeopardy to review course material.
Patricia Scales
Hi Lamarr,
You have it! It is a win-win stituation for all when active learning is invovled. Students have fun, and they really do grasp and retain the information.
Patricia Scales
My students like to review previous lectures using cross questions technique (i.e. one student asking another student a question, and then that student asking the next student another question, and so forth).
I am currently introducing new Active learning techniques for my students and i see a dramatic change from just the standard pure lecture approach. Students are grasping the material at a faster rate and are excited about the content presented in the class. I currently use the jeopardy method for a review, but i also use small exercises during the course to reinforce the review at the end. It took a while to set up, but once in place it makes the student learning process easy, as well as the delivery of material for the instructor.
Hi Albert,
I love this approach. I like how you provide theory to teach it, do it, and then let the students do it, and you are critiquing them along the way. What a valuable lesson.
Patricia Scales
As a fitness instructor I have the ability to have people moving to learn. In teaching of A&P I have found that when a student feels each muscle group through movement the learn it more effectively that wrote memorization. So we will collect in a group and each of the students will provide an exercise for each muscle that we are trying to activate. This exercise is performed till the next person in the group can think of an exercise for the next muscle as we move through the kinetic chain. It always surprises me how much faster a student can think of the correct movement of a muscle when they are sweaty and tired and want to move onto a new exercise.
I teach aduio production and one specific thing that I do while teaching a complicated microphone technique that requires a lot of work technically at the mixing board as well and has many steps involved is to, first lecture on the technique by demonstrating the set-up and going through the actual steps (listed in order) involved. We openly discuss each step along the way, having the students think about each one and why & what it is actually doing in the process. Then I have the students in small groups set the system up. I then critique their work and correct any mistakes, explaining clearly where the mistake happened and the ramifications on the error. Then each student is allotted 3 minutes to perform the steps at the mixing board to make the system function properly. Again I will help as a inquisitive guide when they hit a block, helping them work through the issue on their own without giving the answers away... making them think about each step, in turn, until the task is completed. Other students are encouraged to suggestively help and/or cheer on the student in "the hot seat"... Historically that class is a lot of fun and the students really appreciate the lesson.
Hi Sandy,
I have found that students love having fun while learning. Students tend to retain the information if they are having fun while learning. A great mixture is to have fun while learing. After all, no one likes being bored.
Patricia Scales
Sometimes it is best to develop games that encourage student to participate and learn from one another.
Hi Henry,
Obviously, our students must have the theory in order to apply it. A great mixture is giving the students they theory and then letting them put the theory to the test by performing various hands-on activities.
Patricia Scales
A good way I find this works is by incorporating not only theory but actual hands on learning for the course.
