Show me your activities or ways to incorporate
I would REALLY like to see alot more ways and activities that can be used to incorporate Active Learning into different subjects and courses.
Some of my fellow instructors have used Jepordy with success, others here have not had that success, me included. The Bingo game seems interesting, not sure how to work it and employ it.
Hi Scott,
How creative! This makes sense, and I can see how the students learn by doing this exercise.
Patricia Scales
I had a problem with my students learning how certain parts work together. No matter what I did they only partially understood what was going on. I now break them up into groups of 4-5 and place a specific group of parts on each table. Each group has 30 minutes to research the parts on their table (what is it, what does it do, how many types).
The tables are arranged so that the parts on one table relate to the ones on the next table, continuing in a circle. What happens next is two students will remain at their table and two will move to the next in a clockwise pattern. The students who remained at their table will teach the newcomers about the parts on their table. 15 minutes later, the people who are “roving†move to the next and it starts over. This repeats until the rovers get back to their original table, then it starts over with the “teachers†moving and the rovers teaching.
What I have to do is monitor what their saying, correct any mistakes and I’ll randomly sit at a table and question the ones who are learning. The students really enjoy it and now tend to understand a difficult part of the class.
Hi Sherrie,
Awesome! Most students love to see themselves in action. It is a great way for them to critque themselves as well. I use this technique as well with mock interviews.
Patricia Scales
William,
I teach Veterinary Technology and one of my favorite active learning lessons for my Emergency and Critical Care class came to me while reviewing material for my CPCR lesson. I used to always show the American Red Cross video to my class. Every time I was reminded that while informative, it was rather cheesy. The thought occurred to me that my students could make a better video… and viola! A really great learning opportunity! Watching their videos has become one of my favorite parts of the class!
Hi Irina,
Students enjoy sharing their experiences with others. Sharing makes for a great class discussion.
Patricia Scales
Interesting activity. Especially for the secondary education, as students can relate their own experiences and presented classroom information to the news event.
Hi Michael,
Students love incoporating technology with any course. It makes for an exciting lesson when students can utilize the computer.
Patricia Scales
One way I get students to participate in active learning is to pull up the front page of Yahoo and go through the stories that are relevant to the class for the first 10 minutes of class. We have a class discussion on the application of the themes and how the themes relate to the class. This brings the broadness of the themes out of the class and into real world scenarios. I hope this can help.
I agree that role playing is a great way to activate learners. What better way to take away the focus from themselves when they can portray a different role? It gives them practical experience on what it would be like to be in a certain situation. And it's fun!
Hi Marshall,
Awesome! Peer teaching is very effective. Students are really attentive when their peers lead discussion, and they learn from the activity.
Patricia Scales
William, I did this recently and it was very successful. I will be doing it again.
I divided the class into groups, and assigned them with different tasks. One group discussed an essay we had read, one discussed elements of a good topic sentence, one discussed the correct APA format guidelines, and other things. They were to discuss and plan a way to lead the other groups with the discussion. After about 15 mins they lead the groups in the discussion. Instead of having them stand in front of the class, each person of the group lead a group. We have five groups of four. Group one presented. So each of those four each went to a separate group to lead that group in the discussion.
Hi William,
I like to use active learning methods, such as role playing, mock learning, scenarios, case studies, the internet, and simulations.
Patricia Scales
