Active Learning Classroom: What is Active Learning?

Lee, Morrone, and Siering (2018) defined active learning as the following: "The wide range of instructional approaches that actively engage learners in the learning process rather than having them passively receive information from their instructors" (p. 97). Furthermore, Dr. Michael F. Ryan (2021), Senior Lecturer at the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT), stated that in active learning, "the learning environment and learning climate is one of interaction, collaboration, and simulation" (p. 7). 

Watch the video below to learn more about active learning.

(Rankin, 2017)

Some activities that engage active learning include the following: think/pair/share, student polling, role playing, debates, muddiest point, case studies, games, brainstorming, group presentations, reading/writing exercises, etc. For more information about active learning activities, view the following sources:

• Cornell University's Center for Teaching Innovation
• DePaul University's Teaching Commons
• Griffith University Active Learning Design Tool
• Harvard University's Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning
• LIT's Compendium of Active Learning Strategies for Student Engagement
• Northern Illinois University's Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning
• Oregon Health & Science University
• University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning & Teaching
• University of Waterloo Centre for Teaching Excellence

The video below explains how to apply Active Learning in classrooms.

(Sprouts, 2020)

This video looks at some theories of active learning, with reference to Dale's Pyramid of Learning and Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning.

(Guzman, 2019)

The University of Houston's Faculty and Departmental Instructional Support site provides the following benefits of active learning:

1.  Students are more likely to access their own prior knowledge, which is a key to learning.

2.  Students are more likely to find personally meaningful problem solutions or interpretations.

3.  Students receive more frequent and more immediate feedback.

4. The need to produce forces learners to retrieve information from memory rather than simply recognizing a correct statement.

5. Students increase their self-confidence and self-reliance.

6. For most learners, it is more motivating to be active than passive.

7. A task that you have done yourself or as part of a group is more highly valued.

8. Student conceptions of knowledge change, which in turn has implications for cognitive development.

9. Students who work together on active learning tasks learn to work with other people of different backgrounds and attitudes.

10. Students learn strategies for learning itself by observing others.

In the video below, Dr. Beth Hundley, the Geography/eLearning and Curriculum Specialist a professor at Western University in London, Canada, provides advice on incorporating Active Learning into the classroom.