Active Learning

Active Learning

Media Source: giphy.com

Active learning is exactly what it sounds like- students take an active role in their learning.  Students are no longer passive learners where the teacher is the expert who provides them with information.  With active learning, they are participating in class by interacting with peers and the content.  These are strategies that get students thinking critically and wanting to learn more because of the excitement active learning creates in the classroom.  Active learning leaves students wanting to learn more! After doing my research about active learning, I thought I would look closer at some lessons that implement Active Learning.

Lesson Reflections

I decided to take a closer look at a couple lessons to see if these active learning strategies are worth incorporating into teaching.  The first lesson I looked at involved students creating a product and having peers provide constructive feedback to one another on their projects.  Here is a Padlet describing the the lesson on student feedback.

Media Source: Padlet

The lesson allowed students an opportunity to create products in a format that met their 21st century needs by using the PicCollage app.  In a day when kids are constantly taking pictures, why not use those skills to engage them in a learning experience?  Learning is not only engaging, but relevant.

Media Source: Padlet

While I am by no means an expert, I have attempted to implemented active learning into my own teaching.  My students have created their own Padlets with partners to create a survival guide (sounds much cooler than brochure) about natural disasters.  Working with Padlet provided an opportunity for my students to collaborate with one another to create a product unlike one they had done before.

I have also used OneNote to provide a platform for my students to collaborate on projects.  OneNote has a collaboration option which allows students a space to share conversations as well as research or information.  When it comes to group projects, this has always been a go to for me because groups of students can access the work of others.  No more, "Johnny is sick and he has all our work".  All the work is in one place where everyone can access and modify materials.

Overall, when it comes to active learning, how could you go wrong?  Providing students with relevant, engaging activities and content is what makes learning exciting for students and teachers.  This type of teaching needs to be happening more in all classrooms at all grade levels.  It's easy to provide "traditional" instruction and learning experiences to students, but that does not meet the needs of the students that come into our classrooms each day.  We have to give them what the need- active learning opportunities.


Resources

Active Learning
Effectiveness of Active Learning
Active Learning Reflecting
Promoting Active Learning