Best

 Practices  for  Teaching  &  Learning  

 
1. Introduction  to  this  session  
• The  goal  of  this  session  is  to  illustrate  how  to  incorporate  various  active  learning  
techniques  in  a  course  to  increase  understanding  and  transfer.    
• By  the  end  of  this  session,  you  will  be  able  to:    
-­‐  Apply  relevant  research  on  active  learning  to  your  teaching  
-­‐  Discuss  the  impact  of  active  learning  exercises  in  the  classroom  and  evaluate  the  time  
requirements  for  different  active  learning  strategies  
-­‐  Develop  activities  and/or  techniques  that  will  help  students  achieve  the  learning  
objectives  in  your  course  
2. Discussion  
• What  type(s)  of  interactive  teaching  techniques  have  you  used  or  experienced?  
• What  are  the  pros  and  cons  of  those  interactive  techniques?  
3. Benjamin  Bloom’s  findings  of  instructional  methods  
a) The  2-­‐Sigma  Effect:  the  benefits  of  one-­‐on-­‐one  teaching  methods  
b) Brainstorming  session:  why  is  one-­‐on-­‐one  teaching  so  effective?  
4. Active  Learning  Methods  
a) Active/interactive  teaching  methods  can  bring  many  of  the  benefits  of  one-­‐on-­‐one  
teaching  to  classes  and  large  lectures  
b) Active  vs.  Interactive  Learning  
• When  students  are  actively  learning,  they:  
Think,  write,  predict,  calculate,  and  classify  
• When  students  are  interactively  learning,  they  may  start  with  active  learning,  but  also:  
Discuss,  persuade,  collaborate,  and  argue  
c) Time  scales  for  active  learning  and  interactive  lecturing  
 You  don’t  need  to  change  the  entire  format  of  course  to  increase  active  learning!  
i. <  2  minutes  
ii. 2  –  5  minutes  
iii. 5  –  20  minutes  
d)  <2  minute  activities  
• Do  you  have  a  question?  (10  seconds)  Keep  in  mind  how  long  10  –  30  seconds  feels.  

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 • Pose  a  question  and  give  students  time  to  think  about  it  (30  seconds)    
i. What  procedure  (formula,  technique)  could  I  use  here?      
ii. Is  what  I  just  wrote  correct?  Why  or  why  not?  
iii. What  would  you  guess  is  the  next  step  (the  outcome,  the  conclusion)?  
• MUD  cards  (1-­‐2  minutes)  
e) 2-­‐5  minute  activities  
• Quick-­‐thinks:  are  brief,  active-­‐learning  exercises  that  can  be  inserted  in  lectures  and  
require  students  to  process  information  individually  and/or  collaboratively.  Each  can  be  
used  as  a  comprehension  check  focusing  on  a  different  cognitive  outcome,  ranging  from  
relatively  low-­‐level  knowledge  skills  to  higher-­‐level  skills  such  as  analysis  and  synthesis.    
• Quick-­‐think  examples:  
i. Compare  or  contrast  
ii. Reorder  the  steps  
iii. Support  a  statement  
iv. Reach  a  conclusion  
v. Paraphrase  the  idea  
vi. Correct  the  error  
vii. Complete  a  sentence  starter  
viii. Select  the  best  response  
• Methods  for  integrating  quick-­‐thinks  include:  
i. MUD  cards  
ii. Classroom  response  devices  (clickers)    
iii. Student  response  cards  
iv. Web-­‐based  system  to  collect  answers,  such  as  Socrative  
• It  is  extremely  important  both  to  construct  good  questions  and  to  communicate  to  your  
students  about  why  you  are  using  technology  to  ask  in-­‐class  concept  questions  and  your  
policies  regarding  answering  the  questions.  
f) 5-­‐20  minute  activities  
• 5-­‐20  minute  activities  are  centered  around:  
1.  Long  discussions  and/or  demonstrations  that  focus  on:  
i. multiple-­‐choice  questions  
ii. open-­‐ended  questions  
2.  Participatory  activities  
• Discussion  Questions  
What  were  the  teaching  elements?  
Why  was  this  activity  done  this  way?  
5. Pair-­‐Share  Activity  

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 Select  two  activities  on  the  Active  Learning  Strategies  handout  and  discuss  for  each  
activity:  
i. How  would  you  integrate  the  activity  into  a  course  in  your  discipline  to  facilitate  
a  specific  learning  objective?  
ii. What  are  the  expected  time  requirements,  both  in  class  and  in  terms  of  
preparation  time?  
iii. What  are  the  potential  benefits  or  pitfalls  of  the  activities  (and  how  could  you  
evaluate  these)?  
6. Think-­‐Pair-­‐Share  Activity  
What  active  learning  strategies  could  you  use  to:    
i. Help  students  achieve  one  of  your  learning  objectives?  
ii. Provide  you  and  your  students  with  information  on  whether  students  have  met  
the  learning  objective?  
What  are  the  potential  pros  and  cons  of  the  activities?  
7. Post-­‐Session  Assignment  

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