Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Active Learning
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Cambridge International Education
Teaching and Learning Team
Active learning is a process that has student learning at its centre. Active
learning focuses on how students learn, not just on what they learn.
Students are encouraged to ‘think hard’, rather than passively receive
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information from the teacher.
Research shows us that it is not possible to transmit understanding to
students by simply telling them what they need to know. Instead,
teachers need to make sure that they challenge their students’ thinking.
With active learning, students play an important part in their own
learning process. They build knowledge and understanding in response
to opportunities provided by their teacher.
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Transcript
In the rest of this unit we will look at the basics of active learning in more
detail. We will look at the theory behind active learning, discuss the
benefits of an active learning approach and discover some practical
examples. We will also hear from experienced teachers, who will be
sharing their ideas.
Throughout the unit we will ask you reflective questions that will help you
to think about how you can apply active learning in your lessons.
At the end of the unit there is a glossary of key words and phrases.
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Active learning is based on a theory called constructivism.
Constructivism emphasises the fact that learners construct or build their
own understanding. Constructivists argue that learning is a process of
'making meaning'. Learners develop their existing knowledge and
understanding in order to achieve deeper levels of understanding. This
means that learners are more able to analyse, evaluate and synthesise
ideas (thus achieving the higher order skills of Bloom’s Taxonomy).
Skilled teachers make these deeper levels of understanding more
possible by providing learning environments, opportunities, interactions,
tasks and instruction that foster deep learning.
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The theory of 'social constructivism' says that learning happens mainly
through social interaction with others, such as a teacher or other
students. One social constructivist, Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934),
developed the idea of the Zone of Proximal Development. This zone lies
between what a learner can achieve alone and what a learner can
achieve with their teacher’s expert guidance. Skilled teachers focus
learning activities in this zone. Skilled teachers scaffold learning by
providing guidance and support that challenges students based on their
current ability. This helps students to develop their understanding in
stages.
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(1712–1778). It influenced numerous educators in the early 20th century
such as John Dewey (1859–1952) and Maria Montessori (1870–1952).
The main idea is that we learn best when we can see the usefulness of
what we learn and connect it to the real world.
Learning is developmental.
Learning experiences for young people should be appropriate to their
level of development. Some of this is linked to their age, although
development level and age are not always the same thing.
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What are the benefits of active
learning?
Active learning helps students to become 'lifelong learners'
In an active learning approach, learning is not only about the content,
but is also about the process. Active learning develops students’
autonomy and their ability to learn. Active learning gives students
greater involvement and control over their learning. This means that
students are better able to continue learning once they have left school
and college.
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problem solving and applying their knowledge. Universities and
employers value this.
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Seven misconceptions about active
learning
1. 'Active learning is all about doing a particular activity'
Active learning is about encouraging students to engage actively with
their studies. The learning objective is more important than the task
itself.
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In a class discussion am I using open-ended questions to get my
students thinking?
In a group task do the students know what the learning aims are?
In a seminar activity do the students have effective resources to support
them?
All activities must be relevant to what you want the students to learn.
Some learning objectives might lend themselves best to students
engaging in small-group seminars or a collaborative project. Other
objectives might be better with a more lecture-style approach.
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As with all teaching, the focus needs to be on the learning not the task.
Ask yourself:
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will be noisier than if you are the only one talking. However, as with any
activity, you will still be in charge of the class. You will need to decide
what levels of noise you are happy with.
One of the exciting things about active learning is that students will want
to engage with you in discussion. Sometimes they will want to discuss
your interpretations and ideas. Healthy discussion is beneficial for
students and teachers. However, you are still in charge of the class, and
need to decide when things are available for discussion, and when the
class needs to move onto the next topic or task.
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Which of these seven misconceptions do you think you will hear from
parents, students or colleagues? What will you say to them?
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If you are new to active learning, it will help to ask yourself the following
questions:
How will the task that I have chosen help my students to learn?
Different learning outcomes need different types of task. You know your
own students’ strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, you can think
about what your students particularly need to help them to achieve.
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allow students to answer gives everyone more time to think about what
they want to say.
(i) Ask the students to think of five key facts which they could use as
evidence for a particular essay question.
(ii) Ask the students to use at least one of these facts to write a short
paragraph as part of an answer to this question.
(iii) Ask how the five facts could be re-used for a different essay question
on the same topic. The teacher could either give them these questions,
or could get them to think of their own questions.
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(iv) Ask the students to write a paragraph as part of an answer to one of
these new questions. They should use at least one of their five facts to
support their point.
In this way, the students are learning the factual information and also the
analytical application of this information. The same is also true the other
way around – skills development work usually leads to more high-level
thinking if it is linked to meaningful content.
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marked). They are a diagnostic tool to help you and your students to find
out what has been learned and understood.
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When people start thinking about putting active learning into practice,
they often make the mistake of thinking more about the activity they
want to design than about the learning. The most important thing is to
put the student and the learning at the centre of your planning. A task
can be quite simple but still get the student to think critically and
independently. Sometimes a complicated task does not actually help to
develop the students’ thinking or understanding at all. Consider carefully
what you want your students to learn or understand and then shape the
task to activate this learning.
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As you listen, think about what it is about each activity that could help
develop the students’ learning. What was the activity that each teacher
chose and why did they choose it?
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Next steps
Here are some activities to help you to further explore active learning.
Observation
Observe a lesson taught by an experienced colleague. As you are
watching, ask yourself what opportunities this colleague is creating for
active learning. Think about what it is about the task which makes it an
active learning opportunity.
After the lesson, think about how you might apply this in your own
teaching.
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Planning
Think of one thing you would like to try in your teaching this week which
would make learning more active for your students. If you can, try it out
in one of your classes. At the end of the session, reflect on what went
well:
Why did it go well?
Were there things which did not go well?
Why do you think that was?
How could you make changes next time?
Next think about something you would like to try over the next term.
Again, if you can, try it out with your students.
Then think about what you would like to put into your planning for the
next academic year. What would you need to do to help that to happen?
Some people are not familiar with active learning. What would you say to
a colleague to convince them of the benefits of an active learning
approach?
You can use the Reflection worksheet to keep a written record of your
thoughts and ideas.
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There are lots of excellent materials to read and watch on Active
Learning. We have listed a small section of these below:
The Visible Thinking Project and the ORBIT Project both have excellent
websites, with lots of examples of activities which can be used to help
students learn in an active way.
John Hattie’s TED talk Why are so many of our teachers and schools so
successful? is a useful introduction to his ideas.
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Why are so many of our teachers and schools so successful?
Our new course Getting Started with Active Learning will help you to
understand how to apply active learning in your teaching practice.
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During the course you will explore the following questions:
For more information on the course and how to book your place visit
our website.
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Active learning
Learning which engages students and challenges their thinking, using a
variety of activities
Analyse
To study or examine something carefully and in detail in order to
understand it more.
Autonomy
The freedom to follow one’s will or actions independent of external
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influence or control.
Closed question
A question that can be answered with either a single word (usually ‘yes’
or ‘no’) or a short phrase and the choice of answers is limited.
Collaborate
To work together with someone else, or others, for a particular purpose.
Constructivism
A philosophy of learning based on the concept that people construct
their own understanding by reflecting on their personal experiences, and
by relating the new knowledge with what they already know. Individuals
create their own mental-models, known as 'schemas', to make sense of
the world. Individuals accommodate new knowledge by adjusting their
'schemas'.
Critical thinking
The ability, underlying all rational discourse and enquiry, to assess and
evaluate analytically particular assertions or concepts in the light of
either evidence or wider contexts.
Differentiated learning
Adapting one’s teaching to suit the needs of different students for their
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current level of understanding and performance, by providing
appropriate learning activities, support, and assessment, so that all
students in the group can learn effectively.
Evaluate
To judge or determine the quality, importance, amount, or value of
something.
Formal assessment
Planned and structured measurement of learning.
Formative assessment
Activity that provides students with developmental feedback on their
progress during the learning programme and informs the design of their
next steps in learning.
Scaffold learning
The teacher provides appropriate guidance and support to enable
students to build on their current level of understanding progressively to
acquire confidence and independence in using new knowledge or skills.
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Summative assessment
Typically end-of-learning assessment tasks such as examinations and
tests, to measure and record the level of learning achieved, for
progression to the next level or for certification.
Synthesise
To create something new by combining different existing elements or
ideas.
Transcribe
To make a written copy of spoken material.
TOP
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