Using Class Time Well: Active Learning

Using Class Time Well: Active Learning

from the Center for Teaching Excellence, Kansas University

Teaching is developmental rather than directive or presentational.

Active learning involves the implementation of “learning experiences in which the students are thinking about the subject matter” (McKeachie, 2002). It is based on the premise that students must do more than just listen to fully comprehend new information. They must read, write, discuss, and problem solve. By employing active learning in your classes, you will increase the effectiveness of your teaching and your students’ learning.

Reading

One suggestion for encouraging active learning is the use of the Treasure Hunt technique (Magnan, 1990). This strategy is based on the premise that if you’ve assigned a reading, there must be something valuable for the students in it. Choose several pages or sections, and then ask students to find the most important point, idea, or argument and write it down, along with a sentence or two justifying their selection. If you choose assigned passages well, you can increase understanding and participation immediately.

Writing

John C. Bean suggests several ways to incorporate writing into a class, including:

*Writing at the beginning of class to probe a subject: Ask students to write short answers to a question that reviews previous material or stimulates interest in what’s coming.

*Writing during class to refocus a lagging discussion or cool off a heated one: When students run out of things to say, or when a discussion gets too hot, ask students to write for a few minutes.

*Writing at the end of class to sum up a lecture or discussion: Give students a few minutes to sum up the day’s lecture or discussion and to prepare questions to ask at the start of the next class.

Discussing

While the most common approach to encouraging active learning in the classroom is the use of discussion, not all discussions are created equal, and there are other methods in which to achieve the difficult task of drawing students into lectures, discussions, and readings. One suggestion for engaging students in active learning is using the Thumb’s Up technique (Ukens, 2000). To implement this technique, ask students to form groups of six to ten people, with each group sitting in a circle. Participants will discuss topics within their groups. To keep everyone involved, each person is to extend his or her fist toward the middle of the circle. Once discussion begins, each member is to share, in any order, one idea or piece of information on the topic. As each person shares, his or her thumb will go up. A person may not share again until all thumbs are up. Then, members can begin again and continue the process. After about five minutes, stop the discussion. If you wish, repeat with new topics.

Another method to employ asks the students to frame the discussion, or determine the direction of the discussion. Ask students to identify one question from their readings that they would like to have answered in class. Ask them to share their question with three peers, and then have the group pick one of the three questions to present to the instructor. Allow each group to ask its question.

Problem-Solving

Invite students to use Think-Pair-Share: To help them better understand a lecture, stop for a moment. Ask students to think about a question or problem that relates to the lecture material, turn to a peer, and explain their answer or solution. This is a great way to apply and reinforce key ideas.

Resources:

Bean, J.C. (1996). Engaging Ideas: The professor’s guide to integrating writing, critical thinking, and active learning in the classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

McKeachie, W.J. (2002). McKeachie’s Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers. 11th Ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Magnan, R., Ed. (1990). 147 Practical Tips for Teaching Professors. Madison: Magna.

Stocking, S.H. et al. (1998). More quick hits. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press

Teaching for Transformation: From Learning Theory to Teaching Strategies (Part 1)

Teaching for Transformation: From Learning Theory to Teaching Strategies (Part 1)

by Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D. and is from the newsletter, Speaking of Teaching, produced by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), Stanford University

No matter what you teach, you face the challenge of bringing students from point A- what they currently know-to point B-the learning goals of a course. In many courses, the distance between points A and B is huge, and the path is not obvious. Students must not only acquire new skills and information, but also radically transform their approach to thinking and learning. This newsletter explores theories and teaching strategies that address this universal teaching challenge.

The Challenge

Even though students may have no experience in your class or your field, they enter your classroom with a long history of academic training and life experience. For this reason, presenting new information is not enough to guarantee optimal learning. Students must recognize the limitations of their current knowledge and perspectives. This means that you cannot simply unload your knowledge on students. What is required is a true transformation of students' existing knowledge.

Instructors from all fields face this challenge. In the sciences and mathematics, it is common for students to have learned an oversimplified definition or approach in high school. Students making the shift from classical to modern physics, for example, cannot simply layer new information onto old understanding. In the humanities, students may, for the first time, be asked to develop original interpretations of texts or to consider conflicting interpretations of texts instead of seeking the one, instructor-approved, "correct" interpretation. This new approach must replace the approach that students have learned, practiced, and been rewarded for. In the social sciences, instructors often have the difficult job of helping students unlearn common sense beliefs that may be common but unjustified. In all these cases, students' previous knowledge must be completely revised, not merely augmented.

Transformative Learning Theory

Transformative learning theory (see Mezirow, 1997) addresses this common teaching challenge. The theory describes the conditions and processes necessary for students to make the most significant kind of knowledge transformation: paradigm shift, also known as perspective transformation. Mezirow (1991, p. 167) describes perspective transformation as: ...the process of becoming critically aware of how and why our assumptions have come to constrain the way we perceive, understand, and feel about our world; changing these structures of habitual expectation to make possible a more inclusive, discriminating, and integrating perspective; and finally, making choices or otherwise acting upon these new understandings.

Transformative learning is in clear contrast to the more common process of assimilative learning, the type of learning that takes place when students simply acquire new information that can easily fit into their preexisting knowledge structures. Whereas some college-level courses are aimed at assimilative learning, most courses require at least some level of transformative learning.

According to transformative learning theory, paradigm shift/perspective transformation is the result of several conditions and processes:

1. an activating event that exposes the limitations of a student's current knowledge/approach;

2. opportunities for the student to identify and articulate the underlying assumptions in the student's current knowledge/approach;

3. critical self-reflection as the student considers where these underlying assumptions came from, how these assumptions influenced or limited understanding;

4. critical discourse with other students and the instructor as the group examines alternative ideas and approaches;

5. opportunities to test and apply new perspectives.

When these processes occur, students are more likely to revise their underlying assumptions, adopt a new paradigm, and apply this new paradigm (Cranton, 2002).

Transformative learning theory also recognizes that changing one's perspective is not simply a rational process. Being forced to consider, evaluate, and revise underlying assumptions can be an emotionally charged experience. Students have successfully used their current paradigms to excel in school and understand the world. They may reasonably be reluctant to abandon what they believe is the right way to think, create, and solve problems. Resistance to perspective transformation is common, even among students who are motivated to learn (Illeris, 2003). For this reason, instructors who wish to facilitate transformative learning must create an environment that encourages and rewards intellectual openness (Taylor, 1998).

Teaching Strategies

The content of your teaching will necessarily make some strategies more suitable than others, but instructors of any field can make intentional use of transformative learning theory. Below, we consider strategies for each process involved in transformative learning and offer examples of what Stanford faculty members are doing to bring these strategies into their classrooms.

The Activating Event

The activating event can be anything that triggers students to examine their thinking and the possible limitations of their understanding:

* Understand your students' backgrounds. To create an effective critical event, you must anticipate what students believe and know. Invest some time at the beginning of each quarter to learn about students' backgrounds. In addition to basic classroom interactions, anonymous pre-tests, surveys, and early graded or non- graded assignments can all be effective tools.

* Provide conflicting viewpoints. Conflicting perspectives can motivate students to examine their own perspectives. You can provide these viewpoints in readings or in the classroom.

* Create a disorienting dilemma. Specifically, challenge what students believe. You can do this with a case study, quote, experiment, picture, demonstration, or story that does not fit their expectations. The goal is to confuse and intrigue students and thus increase their motivation to learn whatever you will be presenting in class.

* Set students up for failure. Failure-driven approaches to teaching recognize that students are most motivated to learn when their current knowledge is insufficient to solve an interesting problem. When students reach a problem- solving impasse, they should recognize that new information or a new approach is needed. It is not enough to hand students an unsolvable problem; you must convince them that the impasse can be resolved and create conditions that encourage their success. Instructors can present the missing piece in many ways; from a simple explanation to helping students derive an idea or approach themselves.

Identifying Current Assumptions

The best strategies for helping students identify their current assumptions all require that students explain their thinking:

* Use a critical questioning technique. Ask students to explain their reasoning and the reasons behind their reasoning. Help students identify their assumptions by offering counterexamples, alternative scenarios, or differing perspectives.

* Ask students to make a prediction about an experiment, event, or procedure. Have students explain their predictions, in discussion or as a quickly written exercise. This can be particularly effective when the actual outcome will provide a disorienting dilemma.

* Have students talk through their thinking or problem-solving strategy. This is particularly helpful if you use a failure-driven approach as the critical event. Give students a challenging question or problem and have them talk through the thought process. This can be done with partners, small groups, or through direct interaction between student and instructor.

* Ask students to evaluate a specific position, solution, or reading and justify their critique. This can be done as a small group discussion or as a written assignment. If you provide conflicting readings or alternative solutions, ask students to defend one and provide in-depth reasoning. Follow-up with a class discussion.