ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGY:

"How do we apply active learning strategies in our own classes?"  Tell us what activity you would try, how you would set it up, and what learning objective you would be targeting through this activity. 

I would like to try many of the strategies that we discussed on March 8.  The strategy that I chose for this task is "bookending." 

My definition of active learning is a way to engage students by providing valuable learning experiences (doing and observing) and reflective dialog (with self and others).

When teaching a challenging concept, “bookends” can be useful.  This allows for student participation before and after the lecture piece.  At the beginning of class, I would assign groups that will be composed of 4 or 5 students.  Each group will get a short list of questions relating to the previous homework assignment.  During 2 or 3 minutes of collaborating in their small groups, students can organize in advance what they know about the topic and set expectations as to what the lecture will cover. Then, there would be a whole class discussion about their responses, that will help students review and organize what they observed and learned. Next, I would complete a short lecture.  After the lecture, I would then assign each student to a new group where they would be asked to write a summary of the lecture or other group exercise designed to enhance recall and application of the lecture topic. Sharing will help students to work together and build a sense of positive interdependency upon one another. Studies on the brain and learning show that learners remember most about the first few minutes and last few minutes of a learning experience (Willis, 2006).

By breaking up the lecture into pre and post learning activities and having learners process the material in cooperative learning groups, I think you would decrease the amount of lecture time, but research supports that this will enhance what is learned and build relationships among the learners.