Active Learning

ACTIVE LEARNING
Together We Can!
Wednesday, February 15,
2023 The correct answers have a solid foundation. 1
What Does Active Learning Mean
To You?
Wednesday, February The

15, 2023
correct answers have a solid foundation. 2
❑Understand the advantages of active learning.
What is Active Learning

1.4.1 Essence of Active Learning
Active Learning can be defined as any teaching/instructional

approach whereby students are fully and meaningfully engaged
in the learning process.
• It requires a student-centered approach
• It requires encouraging students to take responsibility for their
own learning.
The correct answers have a solid

Wednesday, February 15, 2023 foundation. 3
Wednesday, February 15, 2023 The correct answers have a solid foundation. 4
…
• Active Learningis not simply providing ample information to
students rather it is way of helping, guiding, motivating
students to create their own knowledge.
Indian proverb:
• “Tell me, and I’ll listen.
• Show me, and I’ll understand.
• Involve me, and I’ll learn.”
From this, we can understand that learning by doingis the main
principle for active learning.
…
• “Active learning” means you participate, collaborate with
others, and apply concepts to the real world.
• It requires hard mental effort but leads to better retention and
an understanding of the material that can be transferred to
other situations.

Wednesday, February 15, 2023 6
foundation.
…
• To understand why active learning works so well, it helps to
know that when our brain decides what to remember, it asks
itself two fundamental questions:
- Can I understand? and
- Do I need to know?

foundation.
…
• When you ask “Can I understand?” your brain always puts the
new information on the foundation of existing knowledge.
• If the foundation is missing the brain has no idea what to do
with it and as a result, it throws it away.
• In other words, your brain needs to build foundational neuron
connections for new information to attach to – which is both
why active learning is more mental work, but also essential for
learning.
foundation.
• When we ask ourselves: “Do I need to know?” Our brain separates
between the material it finds worth remembering and what it can
forget.
• If it’s unlikely that new information will ever be used again, the
brain is smart enough to throw it away.
• If your brain finds that the information is needed again, say it could
increase your social status, the brain will store it in long-term
memory.
• To stay there and be easily recalled, you just have to periodically
use or think of it. The correct answers have a solid

foundation.
What is the purpose?
❑ The - purpose of employing active learning methods is to
develop higher order levels of learning outcomes such as,
application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
• For learning to be active, students must do more than
listening; they must read, write, discuss, or be engaged in
solving problems.
These kinds of activities can include debates, case studies,
simulation, and peer-teaching.
12
13
Some Guidelines for Active Learning in the higher institution:
• Instructor is student oriented
• Students participate in goal setting
• Classroom climate is collegial, supportive, and spontaneous
• Activities are problem-centered and student-driven
• Assessment is continuous and supportive
• Teaching is developmental rather than directive or presentational
• Newer technologies, media, content, and methods are emphasized
• Multi-level outcomes are expected; learning includes:
- Facts and information
- Concepts and understanding and - Meta cognitions
14
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
The correct answers have a solid foundation.
ACTIVE LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM

foundation.
How Active Learning Can be applied in
Classrooms?
• To understand how active learning is applied in classrooms,
let's look at the teachings of Professor Carl Wyman, a Nobel
Prize winning physicist and a leading proponent of the
method. There are four steps to it.

foundation.
STEP 1: PREPARATION

foundation.
…
• Prior to class, the students read up on the fundamentals of the
lesson, so they get an idea of the terms and basic phenomena.
• In class, Professor Wyman starts with a brief introduction and
then gives questions to solve.
• He will have students use clickers, a little device on which
students can answer multiple-choice questions.
• Alternatively or for more complex problems, worksheets can be
handed out.
foundation.
STEP 2: SURVEY WITH CLICKERS (5 MINS)

foundation.
…
• Wyman projects a problem and asks all the students to select one of
three possible answers using their clicker.
• This has two benefits:
- First, the teacher gets an idea of how many of his students already
understand the topic, and
- second, the students are now focused on the question.
• They want to know if they were right! It is important though that

the question is both challenging and interesting.
• All this takes less than 5 minutes.

foundation.
STEP 3: PEER DISCUSSIONS AND 2ND SURVEY (7 MINS)

foundation.
• Without telling the students how they voted and following Eric
Mazur’s Peer Instruction Method — which involves questions, peer
discussions, votes and group discussions — the students then discuss
the question and their answers with one or two classmates, ideally
with someone who disagrees with their own opinion.

foundation.
• During the discussion, the students have to come up with a reason for
their answer and why the others may be wrong. Meanwhile, the
instructor is circling around, listening in to gauge student thinking,
and answering brief questions.

foundation.
…
• Then there will be a second clicker vote. And only now the
results will be shown.
• Typically the second vote will be much better than the first as
students learn a great deal from their discussions.
• An ideal question will have about ⅓ correct on the first vote
and 85% correct on the second. All this takes around 7
minutes.

foundation.
STEP 4: FOLLOW-UP DISCUSSIONS AND
ANSWERS (10 MINS)

foundation.
• Now the professor leads a follow-up discussion with all the students
to provide feedback, exploring the different reasoning, which one is
correct, and importantly, which is incorrect and why?

foundation.
…
• Only at the very end, professor Wyman will explain the correct
solution and answer follow-up questions.
• Ascertaining the students’ understanding from the questions
they ask, he decides if it is time to move on.
• All of which takes around 10 minutes.

foundation.
THREE REASONS ACTIVE LEARNING WORKS

foundation.
…
• The students are actively working on interesting problems.
And as they all voted for an answer right at the beginning,
they have a stake in the outcome.
• That means their brains decide that the information covered is
important to be remembered and are hence more receptive to
learning.

foundation.
• By solving problems alone and in groups they dive deeply into the
material. Explaining to a peer engages novel mental processes. As a
result they construct new synaptic pathways inside their brains.
foundation.
• The explanation from the teacher comes only once the students have
already formed their own thoughts about the concept. At this point,
the explanation makes more sense as the brain can connect the new
information to all the thoughts it has just built. The correct answers
have a solid
Wednesday, foundation.
February 15, 2023
foundation.
32
PASSIVE VS. ACTIVE LEARNING

foundation.
…
• A large body of research has shown big differences in the
outcomes between passive and active learning.
• In one carefully executed experiment, physics instructors
taught their course in two ways: some classes were taught in a
conventional style and others using active learning.
• Even though the teachers were the same and the students were
similar, on average the active learners doubled their
understanding when they were tested at the end of the course.

foundation.
• Other experiments have shown that long term retention is higher as
well. Students that take a conventional lecture that is followed by a
test, forget around 90% of the material within 6 months. In an active
learning environment students can retain more than 70% of what they
foundation.
foundation.
THE MYTH OF CLASSIC INSTRUCTIONS
Sometimes teachers show a problem and then demonstrate to the class

how to solve it. They believe that they can just transfer their own
thinking into the student’s head through an explanation. Unfortunately,
for new ideas, a brain doesn’t work that way. Unless the brain actively
constructs those15, ideas
Wednesday, February 2023 within,Theitcorrect
isfoundation.
as if have
answers thea solid
material was never heard.39
…
• How about you?
• Have you ever learned in an active

learning environment?

foundation.
The correct answers have a solid foundation.
Ethiopia.
foundation.
Some of the Common Misconceptions About
Active Learning are the Following.
 Lecture method should be completely abandoned in favor of active
learning.
 Active learning is simply group discussion and activities.
 Active learning is simply physical activity; it is about engaging the
students’ brains somehow.
 Active learning is simply a fashionable thing without any research to
back it up.
 Active learning does not fit the cultural context of Ethiopian higher
education institutions.
Active Learning Strategies
According to Wesley (2004), active learning strategies have
five traits:
• Students spend much of class time actively engaged in the
class.
• Students interact with their peers .
• Students receive immediate feedback on their work .
• The instructor is more of a facilitator, less of a conveyor of
knowledge.
• Students take responsibility for their knowledge .
15-Feb-23
The correct answers have a solid 34
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
foundation.
foundation.
Thank You!

foundation.

Active Learning

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ACTIVE LEARNING

Wednesday, February The

What is Active Learning

Active Learning can be defined as any teaching/instructional

The correct answers have a solid

The correct answers have a solid

- Can I understand? and

The correct answers have a solid

between the material it finds worth remembering and what it can

brain is smart enough to throw it away.

increase your social status, the brain will store it in long-term

• To stay there and be easily recalled, you just have to periodically

use or think of it. The correct answers have a solid

The correct answers have a solid

The correct answers have a solid

The correct answers have a solid

The correct answers have a solid

• They want to know if they were right! It is important though that

The correct answers have a solid

The correct answers have a solid

The correct answers have a solid

The correct answers have a solid

The correct answers have a solid

The correct answers have a solid

The correct answers have a solid

The correct answers have a solid

The correct answers have a solid

The correct answers have a solid

The correct answers have a solid

• A large body of research has shown big differences in the

outcomes between passive and active learning.

• In one carefully executed experiment, physics instructors

taught their course in two ways: some classes were taught in a

conventional style and others using active learning.

similar, on average the active learners doubled their

understanding when they were tested at the end of the course.

The correct answers have a solid

Sometimes teachers show a problem and then demonstrate to the class

• How about you?

• Have you ever learned in an active

The correct answers have a solid

The correct answers have a solid

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