The document discusses active learning in teaching. It begins by defining active learning as any educational activity that involves students in constructing their own understanding through activities like discussion, problem-solving and engagement with course material. It then reviews research evidence that active learning leads to improved student performance on conceptual tests compared to traditional lecturing. Finally, it provides some examples of active learning techniques instructors can implement, like think-pair-share activities, and discusses challenges to adopting active learning approaches.

1. The what,
why & how of
evidence-based
teaching & active
learning
SHASTA COLLEGE, AUGUST 2017

2. Overview
• The what – dimensions of active learning
• The why – research evidence for
effectiveness
• The how – implementing it in your classroom
Additional resources collected at the end

3. What is active learning?
• There’s no ‘agreed’ definition
• (Deliberately) broad range of activities
Activities students do in class to construct
meaning and understanding, frequently
requiring higher order thinking

4. What is active learning?
• There’s no ‘agreed’ definition
• (Deliberately) broad range of activities
“Anything…. other than simply watching,
listening and taking notes”
(Brent and Felder 2009)

5. What is active learning?
• There’s no ‘agreed’ definition
• (Deliberately) broad range of activities
“Active engagement through reading, writing,
talking, listening and reflecting”
(Uminnesota Centre for Educational Innovation)

6. CC BY-NC 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/f3ynHx!
Derek Bruff: Class time reconsidered!
http://prezi.com/donq036eunko/class-time-reconsidered/!
https://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/resources/20reasons.html!
Context – class time (esp. lectures)

7. Source ar)cle : Poh, M.Z., Swenson, N.C., Picard, R.W., "A Wearable Sensor for Unobtrusive, Long-term Assessment of Electrodermal Ac)vity,"
IEEE Transac)ons on Biomedical Engineering,
vol.57, no.5, pp.1243-1252, May 2010. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2009.2038487
Ac)vity: Jared Stang, UBC Physics

8. Let’s try some interactivity

9. Source ar)cle : Poh, M.Z., Swenson, N.C., Picard, R.W., "A Wearable Sensor for Unobtrusive, Long-term Assessment of Electrodermal Ac)vity,"
IEEE Transac)ons on Biomedical Engineering,
vol.57, no.5, pp.1243-1252, May 2010. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2009.2038487
Ac)vity: Jared Stang, UBC Physics

10. Weekly rhythm for our 1A class!

11. Where’s the evidence for
effectiveness?

12. A large truck collides head on with a small
compact car.
Which of the following statements is true?
1. The force on the car is greater
2. The force on the truck is greater
3. The force on the car and truck are
equal
4. Can’t specify without knowing mass and
speed of vehicles

18. R R Hake !
American Journal of Physics: Volume 66, Issue 1, Pages 64-74!
http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.18809!

19. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1319030111

20. “This meta-analysis makes a powerful case that any college or
university that is teaching its (STEM) courses by traditional
lectures is providing an inferior education to its students”
Wieman commentary PNAS !
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1407304111

21. What can it look like?
• Once again, no set recipe
• A broad range of activities, e.g.
– Think-pair-share
– Peer instruction / discussion
– Minute papers
– Visible concerns / feedback
– Many others ….

22. Weekly rhythm for our 1A class!

23. What can it look like?

24. Learning gains on PI !

25. © Jorge Royan / http://www.royan.com.ar / CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia C

26. Learning gains on PI !

27. Reproduced from Eric Mazur
(search “Confessions of a converted lecturer” on YouTube)

28. Source activity: Simon Lancaster (UEA, UK) Ross Galloway (Edinburgh, UK)

29. 1. Real (and perceived) workloads
2. Dealing with resistance
3. Suitability of teaching spaces
4. About ‘covering content’
5. Loss of (total) control
Home truths

30. Home truths

31. Take homes
On effectiveness
On applicability
On ‘do-ability’

32. Resources / bibliographyIn the order in which they appear in the slides:
Felder R.M, Brent R. (2009) Active Learning an Introduction ASQ Higher Education Brief 2(4).
Active learning resources from the Centre for Teaching Excellence at Cornell
https://www.cte.cornell.edu/teaching-ideas/engaging-students/active-learning.html
Active learning resources from Vanderbilt (Derek Bruff)
https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/active-learning/
Active learning resources from Centre for Educational Innovation at Minnesorta
https://cei.umn.edu/support-services/tutorials/what-active-learning
Derek Bruff, Class time reconsidered, a talk given at UBC in 2016
http://prezi.com/donq036eunko/class-time-reconsidered/
Mentimeter, interactive smartphone polling
www.mentimeter.com
The Force Concept Inventory, Hestenes, Wells and Swackhamer,
The Physics Teacher, 30, 141 (1992)
Freeman, S., Eddy, S.L., McDonough, M., Smith, M.K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H. and Wenderoth, M.P., 2014.
Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), pp.8410-8415.

33. Resources / bibliography
Hake, R.R., 1998. Interactive-engagement versus traditional methods:
A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses.
American journal of Physics, 66(1), pp.64-74.
Hestenes, D., Wells, M. and Swackhamer, G., 1992. Force concept inventory.
The physics teacher, 30(3), pp.141-158.
Crouch, C.H. and Mazur, E., 2001. Peer instruction: Ten years of experience and results.
American journal of physics, 69(9), pp.970-977.
Andrews, T.M., Leonard, M.J., Colgrove, C.A. and Kalinowski, S.T., 2011.
Active learning not associated with student learning in a random sample of
college biology courses.
CBE-Life Sciences Education, 10(4), pp.394-405.