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If one were to ask a random sample of undergraduates to describe what goes on in a college classroom, most would probably say "the teacher lectures and students take notes"--and many professors would agree with them. But over the last ten years, educators and researchers in higher education have begun to explore instructional methods which require students to play a more active role in the learning process. Evidence from research suggests that active involvement in the learning process is vitally important for the mastery of skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving.
How can teachers take advantage of these findings and incorporate more strategies for active learning in college courses? Since the answer to that question is so complex, we will devote two issues of For your consideration to active learning. This issue contains suggestions for classroom activities, the next one will survey strategies for active learning outside the classroom. The classroom techniques contained in this issue are drawn from experiences of teachers at UNC and from the printed sources in the bibliography at the end of the article.
Since most of us use some variation of the lecture method, perhaps the easiest way to begin involving students in class is to plan for ways they can respond actively to the lecture. At the simplest level, this requires asking questions which challenge students to apply the concepts and principles introduced in the lecture. Although most teachers would maintain that they already ask questions in class, a study of college faculty in a variety of different institutions showed that, on average, college professors devote only 3.65% of class time to questioning, regardless of course level or academic field. Moreover, 63% of these questions are directed at the lowest cognitive level, requiring only recapitulation, clarification, or factual responses (Barnes, 1983).
In order to insure that they ask questions from the higher cognitive levels, teachers who are adept at questioning usually prepare for class by writing their questions in the margins of their lecture notes. They also suggest that, although there are many degrees of cognitive complexity, for planning purposes you need only remember three levels: knowledge, application, and evaluation. At the lowest level, knowledge questions help ascertain whether the students have the facts straight--can they recall or recognize basic information?
Median level, or application questions, require students to use information--to deduce the significance of the results of experiments, to apply formulas to new problems, to relate theoretical abstractions to real situations, or to analyze patterns of relationships among concepts and develop generalizations from them:
Evaluation questions require students to exercise judgment--the highest level of cognition. Students must choose the best alternatives or solutions and be able to justify those choices (in other words, to demonstrate the same thought processes that a professional in the field uses to make decisions):
Teachers who use questions regularly in class also use facilitating techniques to keep the process running smoothly. For example, directing questions to individual students (by name, if possible) increases the number of participants beyond the few who take part voluntarily. (Of course, you should be careful to avoid intimidating or embarrassing students when you use this technique.) Waiting for answers for at least 30 seconds increases the number of responses dramatically. Asking students to react to another student's answer fosters cooperative involvement by the entire class. The skillful use of probing questions and follow-up questions will encourage students to try and answer the more difficult and complex questions.
For students, the benefits of interactive lecturing are manifold. They have opportunities to test their understanding of the material as it is presented, their motivation to study and keep up with course assignments improves, and they have many chances to practice thinking critically and creatively.
Although a number of teachers at UNC report that they use questions to promote interaction even in very large classes, the method is clearly more difficult to use in larger sections. Fortunately, there are many other techniques that can spark involvement in learning regardless of class size. Some of these strategies require more elaborate preparation than others, but the payoffs to students are also greater.
Many teachers of large sections regularly break their classes into discussion groups. Research comparing the effectiveness of lectures and discussions indicates that they are equally efficient for knowledge-level learning, but "in those experiments involving measures of retention of information after the end of a course, measures of transfer of knowledge to new situations, or measures of problem-solving, thinking, attitude change, or motivation for further learning," the results favor discussion methods over lecture (McKeachie, et. al., 1986).
Using groups does not need to be a complicated process. For example, several times during a lecture you can ask students to work on a problem in groups of two or three. After five minutes, you can direct the question to the whole class and ask for volunteers to give their solutions. This format has worked successfully in many different kinds of courses, including math, chemistry, history, philosophy, and art criticism. In a variation on the technique, one teacher asks students to vote on an issue (e.g. "Should Congress pass tariffs to protect American industry?"), then he quizzes individuals why they voted the way they did. Without revealing his opinion, he tells the class to vote again and asks students who changed their votes to explain why they did so.
McKeachie (1986) uses a buzz group technique to insure student participation in large classes. In his lectures, when he comes to a concept that lends itself to discussion, he asks students to form groups of from five to eight people to talk about the issue. He instructs them to make sure each member of the group contributes at least one idea to the discussion. After ten minutes, he calls on some of the groups to report and asks other groups who came to the same conclusion to raise their hands. As they report, he records their main points on the blackboard and then incorporates the material into a lecture.
Dill (1977) describes a technique called ke ts'ao, or ferment, used in China to get large groups to come to a consensus decision. Small groups discuss an issue for a time and report their conclusions to the whole assembly. After every group is heard from, they are given additional information if necessary, and return to small-group deliberations. The process is repeated until they achieve a consensus on the problem.
The Feedback Lecture (Osterman, 1985). This strategy is based on the use of written guides by which students learn much of the course material on their own. A typical study guide includes an introduction to the theme of the lecture, a pre-test, suggestions and procedures for studying the material, an outline of the lecture topic, appropriate visuals or graphics, and a list of advanced terminology. The lectures are delivered in two parts, each lasting 15 to 20 minutes, separated by a discussion session of similar duration. Between the two halves of the lecture, students (in groups of two or three) discuss questions related to the reading and the lecture. The teacher moves among the groups as they work, answering questions and facilitating discussion. At the end of the discussion session, students hand in response sheets containing their analyses of the issues. The teacher then delivers the second half of the lecture.
Whole-Class Debates (Frederick, 1987). Taking advantage of the dividing aisles in large lecture halls, the teacher assigns sides of a debate to the two halves of the class (or, by prearrangement, students sit on the side of the room representing the point of view they wish to espouse). The teacher asks each side for five statements supporting their side of the issue. This process may be repeated, with rebuttals, until the teacher feels that the class has explored the issue fully. To end the debate and achieve closure, the teacher asks for two or three volunteers to make summary arguments for each side. Since most important issues have more than two sides, students who wish to defend viewpoints apart from the two major ones are invited to form additional groups by moving to different sections of the classroom. Minor debates can take as little as 20 minutes, since the teacher maintains control as moderator (and can provide for a timekeeper). Some issues may be so central to the course that an entire period could be devoted to their exploration in this format.
Role-Playing (Frederick, 1987). A simple definition of role-playing is a loose simulation in which students assume the roles of individuals or groups in a real-life situation. Contemporary issues in the social sciences are often appropriate for these kinds of simulations (for example, the placement of a toxic-waste dump, the forced integration of a white neighborhood, or the opening of a nuclear power plant). In order to plan such an exercise, the teacher must clearly identify the situation, define the roles of the interest groups involved, and specify the task for each group (usually to propose a position or course of action). These proposals will inevitably conflict--ideologically, tactically, racially, regionally, or in some other fundamental way. Of course, students need to be well-prepared for the exercise--having not only researched their own positions, but those of the other side of the issue. The class usually begins with a mini-lecture to establish the context and setting, after which students work on their proposals in their assigned groups. When they have finished, the teacher can hear the proposals and immediately incorporate them into a lecture on how closely they reflect positions people have taken in these conflicts (and the implications for society). Or, instead, the teacher could arrange a class convention in which the interest groups would caucus to develop strategies and coalitions for achieving their goals. There are probably additional ways to conclude the exercise, but in every case it is important for the teacher to identify the things students were to have learned (or, preferably, for students to identify these outcomes).
Although all of the exercises outlined above have been used successfully in auditorium-style classrooms, it is true that the physical arrangement of the room and the number of students in the class can make the some of the exercises difficult to carry out. Teachers report, however, that students will often find creative ways to overcome these environmental constraints in order to have the opportunity to exercise their minds more actively in the classroom. These exercises require careful planning by the instructor and adequate preparation by students; they should be used, not as a substitute for lecturing, but rather as an integral part of the learning experience.
In-class reading and writing exercises can also promote student engagement in the learning process, even in large classes. For example, explication de text is an old-fashioned (but effective) technique that provides a measure of student engagement in the subject matter and may teach them to read more effectively (Frederick, 1987). In class, the teacher first models how to read and interpret a passage while the students follow in their books. After this demonstration, individual students may be called upon to read aloud and interpret similar selections.
In a literature course, after reading particularly ambiguous passages of a novel or poem, students might be asked to discuss it in groups of two or three and try to decide what the selection means, writing it in their own words. The teacher can ask a few of the groups to give their interpretations before providing his/her own analysis. This technique works well for other kinds of analysis and interpretation; for example, teaching students in an economics course how to read a supply and demand curve, or, in an anthropology course, how to read an artifact. Finally, the technique can be used early in the semester in an introductory course to demonstrate how to read and highlight the textbook or the course readings.
Some teachers use short, in-class writing assignments as a means to keep students mentally engaged in the course material. Writing also helps them learn to express their thoughts more clearly and focuses their attention on important elements of the course. Short writing assignments (a paragraph or two) can be given as pre- and post-lecture activities. Requiring students to write their thoughts or questions about the day's topic before the lecture begins will concentrate their attention on the topic and prepare them for active listening. At the end of the presentation, writing out their impressions of the lecture and any questions they have about the topic will help them place the material in context (and, at the same time, provides valuable feedback to the teacher as well as a collection of possible test questions).
Students can be asked to write short summaries of material at any point during a lecture. In summarizing, they select the most pertinent elements from the material and restate them in their own words. This process of synthesis and personalization leads to better, more permanent learning. One math teacher, in classes in which she has introduced a new concept or procedure, always ends by asking students to write a brief summary of it (e.g. how to solve a rational expression).
How these written exercises are used in the course will depend upon the type of class, the teacher's objectives, the subject matter, and a variety of other factors. They could be collected and graded, kept in a journal (graded or ungraded), or simply used by the students themselves.
Students can also write explanations
and definitions (in their own words) in class to promote intellectual
involvement with the material. For example, a calculus teacher might ask students
to write out an explanation of how to use the product rule to find the derivative,
or write the definition of a geometric series. Students could then compare their
explanations and definitions in groups of two or three. When students share
and critique each other's work, they usually develop better explanations and
definitions and achieve a higher level of understanding of the material.
Read a provocative passage or opinion of a critic. In discussion step in merely as a moderator, pitching in where necessary. -- English professor
When you ask a question students assume that the answer is contained in something you have already talked about...tell them to put themselves in the place of a scientist instead. -- Physics professor
Assign students responsibility for reviewing different journal articles so that each has good control over one piece of material. Ask them to present, compare, and integrate their findings in group discussions. -- Psychology professor
Use decision-making exercises which let them see for themselves the tensions, pressures, and tactics of real political situations. Have them write about their decisions in a journal so they can reflect on them. -- Public Administration professor
The first question is: "How do the Primary Chronicles describe the origins of Christianity in Russia?" The second question is: "Do you see any problems with their interpretation?" Then we finish off with "What does this tell you about the problems of sources faced by scholars?" -History professor
Use questions to put students in the position to make a decision. -- Economics professor
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