1. Active Learning Jenny Knight University of Colorado, Boulder Mays Imad Pima Community College Thanks to previous contributors: Peggy Brickman, Clarissa Dirks, Jo Handelsman, Bill Wood

2. Learning objectives for this session: Participants will be able to: 1.Recognize the key features of active learning 2.Develop a repertoire engaging activities 3.Identify strategies that are useful for implementation of active learning 4.Examine reasons for student resistance and plan for addressing resistance Learning Goal: Understand and be able to use active learning in your classroom.

3. Critical thinking skills Science content knowledge Think like a scientist Expertise New connection s Participation Engagement Attention The Roles of Active Learning

4. Answer this question, thinking of what you value in education What is the most important goal of a college education and, therefore, individual college courses? A.Acquiring information (facts, principles, concepts) B.Learning how to use information and knowledge in new situations C.Developing lifelong learning skills First-day questions for the learner-centered classroom, G.A. Smith, National Teaching and Learning Forum, Sept. 2008

5. How do you think undergraduate students answer this question? What is the most important goal of a college education and, therefore, individual college courses? A.Acquiring information (facts, principles, concepts) B.Learning how to use information and knowledge in new situations C.Developing lifelong learning skills First-day questions for the learner-centered classroom, G.A. Smith, National Teaching and Learning Forum, Sept. 2008

6. How students actually answer this question What is the most important goal of a college education and, therefore, individual college courses? A.Acquiring information (facts, principles, concepts) 10% B.Learning how to use information and knowledge in new situations 34% C.Developing lifelong learning skills 45% (n = 1301) First-day questions for the learner-centered classroom, G.A. Smith, National Teaching and Learning Forum, Sept. 2008

7. How students at Pima Community College answered this question What is the most important goal of a college education and, therefore, individual college courses? A.Acquiring information (facts, principles, concepts) 13% (8) B.Learning how to use information and knowledge in new situations 42% (26) C.Developing lifelong learning skills 45% (28) ( n=62, Pima Community College First day of class Bio 201, F ‘13, S ’14)

8. How important is it, to you, to develop skills in your coursework that will help you land a job when you graduate? four top 5 Can you pick which four in the following list are among the top 5 most desired characteristics among recent college graduates as reported by hiring companies? 1.Creativity 2.Computer skills 3. GPA, cutoff above 3.0 4. Leadership skills 5. Problem-solving skills 6. Teamwork skills 7. Verbal communication skills 8. Written communication skills

9. 1.Creativity 2.Computer skills 3.GPA, cutoff above 3.0 4.Leadership skills 5.Problem-solving skills 6.Teamwork skills 7.Verbal communication skills 8.Written communication skills 80.6% 75.3% 74.7%74.2% GPA, cutoff > 3.0 20% National Association of Colleges and Employers, 2012)

10. employer-desired skill that matches a learning outcome for this course= * * * * * * * National Association of Colleges and Employers, 2012)

11. Active Learning: the fun part of teaching! Learning Goals and Objectives Students Demonstrate Mastery Active Learning

12. Which of the following best describes you when it comes to active learning? A.I am confident in my implementation of active learning and am looking for new cool ideas to try. B.I am confident in a few active learning strategies but need some help with implementing new strategies. C.I have tried active learning, but I wasn’t satisfied with how well I implemented it. D.I more or less know what active learning means, but I need to see how it works in a real classroom. E.Everybody is talking about it, but I’m not so clear on what it really means.

13. Picture your own classroom... What are students doing?

14. Brainstorm! What kinds of active learning methods are you familiar with or do you already use? Write your ideas on your flipchart or white board We will refer back to them soon

15. What are the key elements of an active (learner-centered) class? Passive vs. Active Think about the characteristics that distinguish a passive class from an active class. What are students and instructors doing differently in these classrooms? As you think about this….

16. Reflect on your own teaching. On average, how learner-centered is your classroom? Learner Centered Instructor Centered At the front of the room, we have this continuum on a white board. Come up and place a post-it on the spot that represents where you feel you currently fall in your approach to teaching

17. Observations  Raise your hand if you have observed someone teaching.  Keep your hands up if this teacher used active learning.  Keep your hands up if you were able to question this teacher about how they structured the class. Observation (both being and doing) are extremely helpful in understanding what active learning looks like

18. Example 1 Tessa Andrews, University of Georgia

19. What were students primarily doing in Example 1? A.Listening to a speaker (possibly taking notes) B.Thinking about a question or problem C.Writing or drawing out their response to a problem D.Discussing, debating, arguing ideas with others E.More than one of the above Additional videos are posted on page 4 of the handout

20. What was the instructor primarily doing in Example 1? A.Presenting content or conducting a demonstration B.Exchanging ideas with the most engaged students only C.Posing a problem and hearing answers from most students D.Facilitating group work by listening in on discussions E.More than one of the above

21. Example 2 Mara Evans, University of Georgia

22. What were students primarily doing in Example 2? A.Listening to a speaker (possibly taking notes) B.Thinking about a question or problem C.Writing or drawing out their response to a problem D.Discussing, debating, arguing ideas with others E.More than one of the above Additional videos are posted on page 2 of the handout

23. What was the instructor primarily doing in Example 2? A.Presenting content or conducting a demonstration B.Exchanging ideas with the most engaged students only C.Posing a problem and hearing answers from most students D.Facilitating group work by listening in on discussions E.More than one of the above

24. From what you’ve just observed (and what you already practice), let’s summarize the key elements: Write down (individually) what you think are 3 main features of active learning Discuss with your table Share What are the key elements of an active (learner-centered) class?

25. Common Feature: All students in the classroom need to do something, construct knowledge.

26. Some examples of EnGauging Methods  Think, pair, share  Personal response systems (Clickers)  Case Studies and Problem-Based Learning  Game-based learning  Group Problem Solving  Modeling  One minute questions (Muddiest Point)  Concept mapping

27. EnGauging Activities: Try your hand “activizing” one of the topics on page 1 of the handout Each table, pick a topic and take the approach below: Group 1: puts students in a teaching role Group 2: involves maximum participation Group 3: makes new connections Group 4: demonstrates critical analysis/thinking Group 5: encourages exploration of new ideas Group 6: focuses on a science skills (ie, designing experiments, interpreting data) 10 minutes

28. Each table, share your topic and your approach

30. dominant recessive Imagine that earlobe attachment is dictated by a single gene (a simplification), yielding two traits: unattached and attached. Unattached earlobes are due to the dominant allele (top picture) Attached earlobes are due to the recessive allele (bottom picture) From this information, you can conclude: a.Attached earlobes are seen less frequently than unattached earlobes in a population b.Attached earlobes are seen more frequently than unattached earlobes in a population c.Either phenotype could be seen more frequently in a population: you need more information Example: implementing clicker questions

31. What did I do to engage you?

32. Start with a question that is challenging or addresses common misconceptions 1.Students take individual vote 2.Students engage in peer discussion (discuss ideas for their votes with each other) 3.Students re-vote 4.Instructor calls for volunteer or uses random call: students explain reasoning behind their answers 5.Instructor shows histogram and discusses correct answer only after discussion Many examples of best practices with clickers: http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/SEI_video.html Mazur, 1997 Clicker Question Cycle

33. Another strategy for implementation: 5E Instructional Model Engagement Exploration Explanation Elaboration Evaluation Look at the definitions of these “E”s (handout) With your table: Discuss how each “E” is important to student learning and why this particular order works well What other factors should you consider in implementation?

34. Active learning and student buy-in 5 stages of grief  Do you have fears about using more active learning?

35. Higher Education Research Institute Faculty Survey % of respondents Year

36. Higher Education Research Institute Faculty Survey % of respondents Year

37. Profile of the American College Student, Spring 2011

38. Everyone choose one slip of paper from the center of the table with a student barrier written on it. Think about an example where you have seen this resistance Go around the group, sharing your barrier and example. Choose your 3 top barriers as a table.

39. Handout (p. 4) : a table for you to address student resistance to active learning. Read through the Potential Solutions. Work in pairs to find solutions to your top 2-3 student barriers. Go around the group, sharing your solutions. Share out your best solution to the whole group.

40. “Top 10 reasons students dislike working in small groups … and why I do it anyway” Ann Taylor Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, v. 39 (3), 219- 220 (2012) “Coping with Hitchhikers and Couch Potatoes on Teams” From, Turning Student Groups into Effective Teams, by B. Oakley, R. Felder, R. Brent, and I. Elhajj,. J. Student Centered Learning, 2(1), 9–34 (2004).

41. How do we know if we are doing well at active learning? Measuring Scientific Teaching Practices The Summer Institute is based on the Scientific Teaching pedagogy The Scientific Teaching Taxonomy is a tool that defines the pedagogical goals and supporting practices of the Scientific Teaching pedagogical framework

42. Scientific Teaching Taxonomy

43. Measuring Scientific Teaching Practices Scientific Teaching Practices Survey  taken online by both instructors and students  designed to measure the frequency of Scientific Teaching practices in a course  based on the Taxonomy

44. We are recruiting volunteers!  Survey Development:  Provide feedback on survey questions  Be interviewed while taking the survey for feedback on survey questions  Participate in Research:  Fall 2015 and beyond (complete survey, administer survey to students, allow observations of course, etc) Look for a follow-up email from Brian Couch (bcouch2@unl.edu) or Mary Durham (mdurham2@unl.edu) with more information.bcouch2@unl.edumdurham2@unl.edu Are you interested in such a tool?

45. Learner-centered classrooms are places where students are guided by a facilitator as they engage and construct their own knowledge with facilitation. There is overwhelming evidence that active learning is an effective method for student learning. It does not take a tremendous amount of effort to move a classroom from passive to active. There are many tools for implementing active learning. It is way more fun to create learning environments that reflect the process of science! A Recap of Key Concepts about Active Learning