UW-Stout
Teaching and Learning Center
June 2007
A Guide to Active Learning During One Class Period
Assumption. You teach this class as a reading and lecture class. The material in the readings and in the lectures appear on the tests. You do not make much use of laptops in your sections.
Deep Assumption. You are an expert who has organized the material in an effective, powerful way. You understand concepts and can apply them to new situations effectively. You have gained this expertise from years of experience, study, and reflection on the topics. Your students do not have this expertise and will not have your level of expertise when the course is over.
Step 1. Assign the reading—a chapter, an article, a website, your powerpoint, your lecture notes, whatever.
Your Rationale. Determine what the students should be able to do after the reading—list concepts? Define terms? Reproduce the argument? Relate to previous readings? Relate to your lecture/powerpoint? Get an ‘overview’ of ideas or authorities?
Step 2. In class assign one of the following activities; choose a combination that causes students to work on the focus you determined for the reading.
- Students hand in a paper on which they write their ‘muddiest point.’ You quickly read all or some of them and lecture on those points.
- You assign students to groups to create answers to their muddiest points. Each student writes a brief answer and hands in the sheet. Several groups report on the muddiest point that they were unsure of or most delighted to have ‘gotten.’
- You assign groups to write a paragraph or brief list of how the reading relates to previous readings or to your lecture notes/powerpoint
- You assign groups to create an outline or a concept map of the argument of the article. Assign two groups to put their outine on the board
- You create groups of four and give each a number, Then you tell all the ones, twos, etc., to get together. These new groups define terms you assign them. They take the definitions back to their original group and that group creates a list of definitions.
- You give each group 3 minutes to list the important concepts or examples from the reading. Groups exchange lists and create definitions for the concepts.
Step 3. Assessment. Assign points to the sheets. Read them quickly. Assign an ‘in the ball park’ grade to those that ‘get it’ say 5 points; assign perhaps 8 points to a paper that does very well; assign 0 points to a paper that ‘blows it off.’
Step 4. Iteration. Repeat the exercise often. Continue to emphasize the focus you have for the students’ reading.
Step 5. Course Assessment. Assign a high enough percentage to the reading answers so that this aspect of the course ‘counts,’ e.g. 25%.