Promoting Active Learning Refer to Chapter 2 in Text

Opening Question : Take a moment to reflect on a class that had you involved. Come up with a positive and a negative example. Jot them down.

Your Goal: Get students engaged in learning Thinking, talking, moving, or emotionally involved so that what you teach gets into long-term memory.

Is this active? Nope. You want to go from this outcome… The secret to being a bore is to tell everything. Voltaire

To doing this!

You have jotted down your reflections and experiences with active learning. Now, take a moment and share your knowledge and experience by writing it down. (you will want to keep a “notes sheet- you turn it in at the end)

What is active learning? You might think of active learning as an approach to tutoring in which students engage the material they study through reading, writing, talking, listening, and reflecting. How can you connect this to your learning style? Explain.

Active learning Analysis of the research literature... suggests that students must do more than just listen: They must read, write, discuss, or be engaged in solving problems. Most important, to be actively involved, students must engage in such higher-order thinking tasks as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (Chickering & Gamson 1987). University of Minnesota Center for Teaching and Learning

Information Processing Model 1. Student receives/takes in information 2. Sorts through the information, organizes, modifies so it makes sense 3. Stores the information in to long-term memory Reflecting on you LSI how would step 1 look for you? What can one do to get information from STM to LTM?

Promoting Active Learning (complete the table below) Comment from StudentAppropriate Response from Tutor Please give me the answers to the worksheet items I am just trying to get a D on the tests so that I pass the course I slept in & missed the class. Can you teach me the information I missed? You think of one:

Source of Information Stage 1: What do you do to take accurate & complete information? Stage 2: What do you do to sort through, organize, & modify information so that it makes sense to you? Stage 3: What do you do to store & retain information for a test or assignment? In Class Reading Assignments Preparing for Tests Refer to page 18 in text

Active lecturing Although not recommended in tutoring, it sometimes may be necessary. Rule 1: Make it brief Parts of a lecture Beginning (introduce the skill) Middle (explain the skill) End (demonstrate the skill)

Beginning of the Session Gain students’ attention, motivate them to learn Use activity, question, picture, music, or video clip to draw them into the topic (this will depend on the subject) Write out the objectives Access prior knowledge Use activities that allow students to relate what they already know to the concept to be studied.

What do you know about the ways students learn? Start with your clearest thoughts and then move on to those that are kind of out there!

Middle of the Session Pause every twelve or fifteen minutes for students to process the information actively. (Research shows that people can’t attend to lectures for longer than about 12 or 15 minutes.)

Middle, cont. You either have your learners’ attention or they can be making meaning, but not both at the same time. Teachers who don’t allow time for students to process information do an enormous amount of reteaching. Use active learning strategies to prevent students from wandering off.

Middle, cont. Strategies may be used with any size class in only a few minutes’ time, done alone or in pairs. (Use a timer to keep to schedule.) Build in the pause as you plan the lesson, or build it into your PowerPoint Adapt strategies that fit the particular lesson. Many strategies are adaptable to multiple uses.

Take a few minutes to check your notes ( this would be done with a partner…) Summarize the most important information. Identify (and clarify if possible) any sticking points.

End of the lecture – wrapping it up Summarize information, provide closure, and ask students to connect the information to themselves, their own values, and its application in the world Ask students for the muddiest point of the day (or something similar). Review and closure activities that foreshadow the next lesson

Please answer the following: 3 things you gained 2 things you will use in your class right away 1 thing you want to learn more about

Resources Active Learening: Creating Excitement in the Classroom by Charles C. Bonwell and James A. Eison Active Learening: Creating Excitement in the Classroom University of Minnesota Center for Teaching and Learning University of Minnesota Center for Teaching and Learning A Training Guide for College Tutors & Peer Educators, Lipsky.