Why is active learning important?
Planning for Class
Pre Class Activities
Holding Students Accountable
Active Learning Activities
100

This is anything that students do in the classroom other than passively listening to a lecture

What is Active Learning

100

Statements, written from the students’ perspective, indicating the level of understanding and performance they are expected to achieve as a result of engaging in the teaching and learning experience

What are Learning Goals?

100

Statistics show that only one in five students will complete these.

How many students complete unguided reading assignments?

100
The purpose is to hold students accountable for completing the pre-class assignment, and these can also be used to gauge students' understanding of the pre-class assignment.
What are in class quizzes or clicker quizzes?
100

This is the most popular among students, and builds problem-solving skills in a cooperative learning environment.

What is "Scaffolded" Problem Solving

200

a subset of active learning where students work in groups of three or more

What is Cooperative Learning

200

Something that helps maintain the same learning goals from year to year.

What is collaboration between professors

200
The ultimate form of flipping a classroom, requiring a substantial amount of time to be invested by the professor.
What is a video lecture?
200
This form of accountability allows the instructor to view submissions before class to determine students' understanding of the pre-class material before beginning in class instruction.
What are online submissions or discussion forums?
200
In this activity the students are given index cards and asked to write down one question about the course material.
What is "The Fish Bowl"
300

This is a place where physics has been taught in an active-learning environment for many years at Mines

What is PHGN 100 and 200 Studio

300
Provides a detailed analysis of the task to be completed, which directs students in their effort to successfully complete the assessment as well as helps the instructor to consistently and fairly mark the assessment.
What is a rubric?
300
Great to use inside and outside of the class as they are able to give a more physical representation of what is going on in a system and have the ability to allow students to learn through their own curiosities.
What are simulations?
300
Simply asking students what they are curious about and what questions they have from the pre-class assignment
What is piquing curiosity?
300
A multi-stage group project wherein each member in the group becomes "specialized" on a certain topic before passing on the knowledge to the rest of the group.
What is a jigsaw project?
400

The time after the start of a lecture when students lose focus.

What is 10-15 minutes?

400
This technique allows students to evaluate the performance of the other group members based on the behaviors of others and use some type of recording tool like a checklist, rating scale, or rubric developed from the learning objectives
What is Peer-Assessment
400
Generally used for creating a base of knowledge and not full comprehensive knowledge and application of the material
What are the limitations of reading assignments?
400
A set of questions to guide the student through the pre-class assignment.
What is a preparation guide?
400
A way for students to communicate their level of understanding of material at any point during the lecture.
What is continuous polling lecture?
500

Students that benefit the most from active learning.

What are female, minority, low-income, and first-generation students?

500
It is often achieved through the use of a reflective journal, written with the assistance of a set of guiding questions.
What is self-assessment?
500
Allows students to revisit a lecture before the test or after missing a class, while the professor now has more time during class to interact with the students and explore misconceptions more deeply.
What are the advantages of video lectures?
500
A chance for students to pose questions and interact with each other prior to coming to class. These work well for difficult conceptual questions, and will help spark curiosity prior to coming to class.
What is an online discussion forum?
500
The idea is to get students working with an experiment and collecting data to compare to the theoretical models taught in class.
What is a hands on laboratory?
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