New Teacher Tips: Instructional Strategies that Promote Active Learning

Research has shown that students need to do more than just listen to make learning meaningful. Reading, writing, discussing or engaging in solving problems are important, engaging in higher-order thinking tasks such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation is necessary for encouraging students to make deeper connections. This article will emphasize instructional strategies for promoting active learning that involve students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing.

Give a pre-test to survey what students know. Wherever possible, ask students to provide evidence for their reasoning.

Connect new information to former knowledge. Before presenting students with new information, it is important to build on former knowledge of what they already know about a topic. Brainstorming and anticipation guides are excellent ways to connect new concepts and ideas with prior knowledge.

Provide problem solving tasks. Form small groups of students and have them demonstrate their understanding by answering a focused question that solves practical problems related to the content they are studying.

Provide opportunities for students to reflect on their own learning. Metacognition or thinking about their own thinking is an excellent way to guide students in planning, monitoring and evaluating their own thinking. For example, after studying a unit in the textbook, teachers can ask students, "Name three things you learned about this unit and three things you felt needed to be improved."

Ask students to think about their thinking (metacognition). Prompt and support students in planning, monitoring, and evaluating their own thinking. For example, after a quiz, ask students, "What went well, what was hard, and how could I handle what was hard better next time?"

Utilize "think-pair-share" encounters to increase understanding. Ask a question, then have students pair with another classmate to answer the question. When students think about and discuss class material, they process the ideas more thoroughly and construct for themselves extensive cognitive networks connecting the new ideas together and linking them to what they already know.

Ask students to generate questions based on the information. When students ask questions they are actively involved in processing the information during lecture and presenting it in new ways.

In summary, active learning is something STUDENTS DO (not only what teachers plan and teach) in the learning process that aids their understanding. Instructional strategies alone are insufficient to promote active learning and/or critical thinking. Optimum environments for learning can be created by selecting and using active teaching methods.