Engaging students in class through active learning techniques
Intended Learning Outcomes
- Describe active learning strategies and explain their importance.
- Implement frequent and varied active learning strategies in recitation.
Facilitation Notes
Begin with a discussion that asks folks to reflect on what makes them feel engaged in a classroom. You can do this in a free form discussion setting, or use an anonymous polling platform like Poll Everywhere that allows for open-ended responses.
Introduce the concept of active learning, emphasizing that it is a student-driven approach to teaching and drastically improves outcomes for all students, but particularly those from traditionally minoritized backgrounds. Provide or solicit some examples and highlight the data supporting active learning in the classroom:
Carl E. Wieman (2014) Large-scale comparison of science teaching methods sends clear message. PNAS 111(23):8319-8320.
Freeman et. al. (2014) Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. PNAS 111(23):8410-8415.
“If the experiments analyzed here had been conducted as randomized controlled trials of medical interventions, they may have been stopped for benefit—meaning that enrolling patients in the control condition might be discontinued because the treatment being tested was clearly more beneficial.”
Discuss examples of active learning strategies, including frequent in the moment techniques and more periodic, planned activities. After presenting ideas frequent in-the-moment techniques consider having TAs engage in a short free-write period to reflect on which techniques stand out to them. To explore planned active learning activities, break folks off into groups of 2-3 to explore the ideas provided in the Active learning activities breakout document (link). Assign each group one of the four activities provided. Consider creating a shared Google document for TAs to record their thoughts, or have each group share out as you record their ideas on the board. (Activities are adapted from: Interactive Techniques (PDF) by Kevin Yee, Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.)
Let folks know where they can find ideas for more active learning strategies!
Finally, give folks a chance to design their own active learning activity to use in their next class, working independently. Following the independent work period, consider pairing folks off to discuss so that they can get feedback from a peer.
Close with an Exit Ticket that prompts folks to think about what they are taking away and what they still have questions about.
