Active Learning

This week, I took a look at active learning, how it can be implemented in the classroom, and how it benefits the 21st century learner. So, what exactly is active learning. Active learning is when the "students take responsibility for their own learning and engage the material through reading, writing, talking, listening and reflecting." This means that the teacher takes a step back and becomes more of a facilitator in the activity.

Active Learning Example

I took a look at one specific example of active learning this week. In the Thinglink Illinois Project students completed many different active learning activities before they reached their final project goal. Below is a link to a brief Padlet.com overview of the activity.

Active Learning Padlet (Source) 

In this activity, students were to follow guided notes in order to research the regions of the United States. From there they created a Thinglink project about Illinois which later got included into their five page website about the regions. I feel like this activity very clearly ties into active learning. The students who completed this project were able to take responsibility for their own learning. They had to follow along with their teachers guided outlines and directions, but the way they created their projects was up to them. It is clear that the teacher is simply the facilitator in this activity. They set up what the students needed to do in the beginning, gave them the resources to be successful, and then let the students create.

When looking at their finished projects in the original blog post, it is clear that the students were successful in completing the requirements. It looks like they not only learned a lot about the regions, but also a lot about technology. I do think that teachers should keep active learning in mind when they are planning lessons. Today's students are a different type of learner. They don't respond well to a traditional lecture or note taking. When active learning is incorporated into a lesson plan, the students are more likely to be engaged and feel like what their learning is relevant to them. I think that is pretty clearly seen through this Thinglink activity.

My Experience with Active Learning 

I have a little experience with active learning myself. One of the schools I worked at previously was a one-to-one iPad school. When each student has their own technology it makes active learning a lot more attainable. For example, my fourth graders needed to learn about the explorers who discovered America. I created an assignment where my students chose an explorer, researched based on a guided notes sheet, and then created a narrated presentation about it. Below is one example of a student project.

I also have personally taken part in active learning during professional development. At the same school I was previously talking about. Our staff completed a handful of BreakOut EDU activities as training, and to practice so we could potentially them in our own classrooms. Unfortunately, I never used one in my classroom, but I hope to at some point in the future.

After learning all about active learning this week, I can not wait to get started in planning lessons and activities for my current class that allow for active learning.