Active Learning
What is Active Learning?
Active learning is when students take responsibility for their learning by engaging with the material through reading, writing, talking, listening, and reflecting. Active learning incorporates many different elements that can be used to meet all the different learning styles of our students!
This week I looked at the Zumpanotechlab blog post "The American Revolution.. It's Like We Were There!". This post talked about how Ms. Malhiot's classroom incorporated technology tools in order to promote active learning when learning about the American Revolution. I created a Padlet around the blog post.
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| Padlet |
The students used PicCollage and Audioboom to help them actively learn about the American Revolution. The PicCollage allowed students to have a choice in how they represented their learning and understanding in a way that made sense to them. The Audioboom gave them a voice to help them explain their reasoning and knowledge behind their creative collages. This engaging lesson allowed the students to have a voice in their learning, be creative and hands on, and interact and communicate with one another which are all characteristics of active learning!
Why Should Teachers Incorporate Active Learning?
I have learned how important active learning is, and how many benefits students get from it.
Student benefits:
- Increases cognitive and emotional development and retention
- Independence in learning
- Helps develop 21st century skills
- creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration
- Increase in transfer of new information
- Increase in student motivation
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| Active Learning Resource |
I think that getting away from the standard lecture/listen teaching can be scary and challenging; mostly because today's curriculum is so jam packed and assessment focused that lecture may allow the teacher to cover as much material as possible to ensure students get the information they need. HOWEVER, this lecture/listen approach is not beneficial in giving the students information if they are bored, uninterested, and unmotivated to learn and explore.
My favorite part of active learning is that we are putting the learning in the student's hands. Even with so much material that needs to be covered, by finding ways to incorporate active learning we are finding ways to spark natural curiosity and genuine interest in our subject material! Motivating our students to learn, achieve, connect, and grow is one of the best things we can do for them and active learning helps us do that! Also, the beauty of active learning is that we can reach all students because of the multiple aspects incorporated. Active learning is meant to help students engage in listening, reading, writing, speaking, and reflecting, so we are bound to reach a learning style that fits every student so everyone can feel like they are learning to their full potential.
My favorite part of active learning is that we are putting the learning in the student's hands. Even with so much material that needs to be covered, by finding ways to incorporate active learning we are finding ways to spark natural curiosity and genuine interest in our subject material! Motivating our students to learn, achieve, connect, and grow is one of the best things we can do for them and active learning helps us do that! Also, the beauty of active learning is that we can reach all students because of the multiple aspects incorporated. Active learning is meant to help students engage in listening, reading, writing, speaking, and reflecting, so we are bound to reach a learning style that fits every student so everyone can feel like they are learning to their full potential.
Connect
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| Think, Pair, Share |
Because of my minimal teaching experience, I don't have many active learning examples, but I do have one! I taught my first lesson on genetics, specifically Punnett Squares. The teacher wanted me to go over a packet of different types of problems with the students for that day's lesson. In between sections of different types of problems, I incorporated a Think, Pair, Share exercise. The students worked collaboratively on the problems, but I wanted to include deeper exploration on the topic. I thought that the Think, Pair, Share activity was a good way to engage the students in mini conversations that connected the material to the real world and allowed them think outside the box- higher order thinking! The students were able to think like scientists and make connections from the in class concepts to the real world.
Being in the science field, there will always be hands-on lab experiments which are huge active learning facilitators; lab experiments are engaging, creative, collaborative, and reflective. As my teaching career grows, I am excited to see what other lessons I could create around active learning!
Hi Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post and I agree with you 100% that the are some flaws if a teachers only approach is lecture/learn models. Active learning is necessary to engage the student, as you mentioned, and I think it is vital for all subjects (not just science as I had touched upon). Furthermore, active learning does break the tedious nature of lecturing, so that students can explore in a richer, more robust way. Could not agree more! Keep up the great work!
Chris C.
After viewing your Padlet, I was curious to find out more about AudioBoom. Thank you for hyperlinking it so I could get some more information! This looks like an excellent tool to use in order to engage students in active learning.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I completely agree that it can be difficult to venture off from our typical lecture based lessons. I do think it is more difficult to get through all the curriculum without lecturing, however you made an excellent point about engagement. Teaching through only direct instruction does not reach all the diverse learning styles in the classroom and will cause a majority of students to be bored, uninterested, and unmotivated. I believe that active learning is effective because it is different for the students and they are allowed the opportunity to explore and incorporate their interests.
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that the standards are so data driven that it becomes really hard for teachers to teach is different ways because there is so much to cover. I am supposed to expose my students to grade level content ( I have K-3 in my room) it is extremely hard to teach grade level content at such a wide grade range. I have had to find a happy medium and try to incorporate active learning to enhance their social skills as well as grade level content.
Great post, Michelle. You are correct when you say sometimes teachers lecture more to get through the curriculum quicker. As a teacher it can be hard to relinquish 'control' of the learning environment but as you saw from the example above the end result can be powerful! Within your Padlet I liked the suggestion of presenting to each other.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I enjoyed learning about PicCollage and Audioboom. I agree with a lot of what you said. Sometimes, teachers get so lecture driven, they almost forget the check how much the students absorb.
ReplyDeleteMichelle-
ReplyDeleteYour point in moving away from the standard lecture/listen teaching can be scary. Although the use of technology is widely used in most classrooms, it’s still important to include this type of teaching method in the classroom. In many classes I’ve been in since Jr. High, I’ve been required to type papers. Typing everything seems to take away from practicing penmanship.
I definitely believe there is just too much information to cover for any course. I sit in 3hr classes and still the professor is unable to cover all the information she had planned for. Active learning is beneficial to students as you said it put the learning in students’ hands.
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that through active learning, the learning is placed in the students hands. I agree because they become responsible for the material and their understanding of it. In order to create a graphic and then put their voice to it, like in the blog example, they have to be able to explain how their images reflect what they have learned. A teacher can then see/hear whether or not the student has accurately interpreted the information. It also gives them the opportunity to be creative and express themselves and show how they have connected withe the material. In turn, this may help another student to gain greater understanding.