Peter Bartlett, Centre Education Director and Senior Lecturer in Design Thinking
Are your students passively listening? Or are they actively engaged in learning? Transforming the classroom into an active learning environment using techniques such as varying the format, promoting group work and physical activity can start to:
- foster engagement and accountability;
- promote student retention and learning;
- give students practice in developing critical-thinking skills; and
- enable instructors to assess how well the class is learning that day.
Michael Prince of Bucknell University defines active learning as instructional methods that engage students in the learning process, in particular, activities that are introduced into the classroom in contrast to traditional lectures where students passively receive information. The Starting Point Project defines highly interactive lectures where “the traditional lecture portions are brief with either planned or spontaneous interactive activities.”
Varying the Tempo
“You don’t take two hours out of your life to sit and listen, you take two hours out of your life to work on something.”
– Harvard Graduate School of Education student.
In the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CfIE), 3-hour teaching sessions are typically broken into smaller segments. Theories and methodologies are quickly introduced in 30-minute lectures. Theories are then immediately practiced in workshop sessions where the students apply the methods learned to real-world problems and challenges.
Student workshop exercise, Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Workshops are followed with time for student reflection, group share-outs, and question-and-answer sessions, enabling the teacher to assess the learning live during the session while being flexible and responsive to learners’ needs. To encourage active learning, the students are encouraged to discuss and answer peer questions.
Promoting Group Work
With a focus on problem-based learning, CfIE practices small-group learning and working in teams, which involves longer periods, established group membership, and interdependence in completing the project brief. By contrast, small-group learning tends to be more informal and brief and can happen multiple times in one class session. Active teaching spaces in Richmond Building and Temple Quarter are designed to facilitate small-group learning, teamwork and collaboration.
Active Learning Space, Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Richmond Building
Moveable tables easily accommodate groups of up to six students. Video displays throughout the space enable flexible teaching and good line-of-sight.
Moveable tables provide flexibility, Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The Harvard Guide to Small-Group Learning summarises some easy and quick small-group exercises to try, including Turn-and-Talk, Think-Pair-Share, Peer Instruction and Jigsaw.
Getting Students Moving
“Research shows that movement improves concentration, relieves stress, and increases retention. Any opportunity for students to move during class, from a ten minute standing break to a kinesthetic learning activity can positively impact student learning.”
– University of Michigan, Learning and Teaching Consulting
At the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, teachers stop the discussion and ask students to stand up and do exercises. Breaking up long class sessions, some teachers have conducted mindfulness exercises–these tend to refresh the students and centre them back in the moment of the class discussion. In the Centre, we find that nothing energises a class more than getting the students on their feet. The moveable whiteboards in the active teaching spaces at Bristol are an easy way to get students up – allowing groups of students to work collaboratively and move around the teaching space.
Working at the whiteboard and on the walls, Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Start Small
Research shows the impact of active learning is impressive. In 2014, Freeman and colleagues conducted the largest and most comprehensive meta-analysis of the undergraduate STEM education literature to date. Students in classes with traditional lecturing were 1.5 times more likely to fail than students in classes with active learning. The same study also showed active learning is shown to reduce withdrawal rates. Developing an active learning environment doesn’t have to be difficult. Experts recommend starting small – consider adding one activity per session. Explain ‘why’ to the students. Don’t feel you need to over-rely on fancy tech tools – some whiteboards, pens, markers, or just turning and talking to a neighbour is all it takes. Lastly, don’t forget to reflect and adapt based on the class feedback. Remember, active teaching is not a gimmick – it is grounded in decades of research and aligned with how people learn.
Insightful Research
Davidson, N., Major, C. H., & Michaelsen, L. K. (2014). Small-group learning in higher education—cooperative, collaborative, problem-based, and team-based learning: An introduction by the guest editors. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 25(3&4), 1-6.
Freeman, S. et al. (2014) “Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), pp. 8410–8415. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111.
Ferrer, M.E. and Laughlin, D.D. (2017) “Increasing College [University] Students’ Engagement and Physical Activity with Classroom Brain Breaks Editor: Ferman Konukman,” Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 88(3), pp. 53–56. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/07303084.2017.1260945.
Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., & Smith, K. A. (2014). Cooperative learning: Improving university instruction by basing practice on validated theory. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 25(3&4), 85-118.
King, 1993, From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side, College Teaching v. 41 no. 1 p. 30-35
Lyman, F., 1987, Think-Pair-Share: An expanding teaching technique: MAA-CIE Cooperative News, v. 1, p. 1-2.
Medina, J. (2014) Brain rules: 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school. Victoria, Australia: Scribe. Available at: http://site.ebrary.com/id/10927918 (Accessed: April 10, 2025).
Millis, B. J. (2014). Using cooperative structures to promote deep learning. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 25(3&4), 139-148.
Nilson, L. B. (2010). Teaching at its best: A research-based resource for college instructors (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Prince, M. (2004) “Does Active Learning Work? A Review of the Research,” Journal of Engineering Education, 93(3), pp. 223–231. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2004.tb00809.x.
Useful Resources
Effective Group Work in the College Classroom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_zW4wUl5w&feature=youtu.be
Instructors and students share their experiences, and Nobel laureate Carl Wieman explains what the research suggests for best practices in implementing group activities. Examples include worksheets, whiteboard, and case studies.
Group Work: Using Cooperative Learning Groups Effectively – Vanderbilt Center for Teaching http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/setting-up-and-facilitating-group-work-using-cooperative-learninggroups-effectively/
Includes sections on theoretical underpinnings and evidence of effectiveness for group work.
Guidelines for Using Groups Effectively – U. of Michigan Center for Research on Learning & Teaching http://www.crlt.umich.edu/gsis/p4_1_5. See especially “Checklist for Managing Group Work Effectively.”
Harvard Guide to Small-Group Learning [pdf]
