Why is active learning important?
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
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
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
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
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
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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