Active learning tips

Starting and finishing the session

the start or end of many teaching sessions. You might think it strange that we’ve grouped opposite ends of a lesson into one chapter – surely they’re completely different? No, in fact many sorts of activities that you may wish to use at these opposite ends of your lesson have many similarities and most of our examples would work well in both these places.

At the start of any class, it is good practice to take some sort of snapshot of knowledge and expectations so that you know what needs to be covered in the time you have. Without this you risk your whole lesson wasting your own and learners’ time. How can you teach a subject if you don’t know where your class is starting from? It is also a good practice to set up the expectations of the class right from the start. If they know within the first few minutes of a lesson starting that you will be expecting their active engagement, it will set the tone of the whole lesson, easing them into the rest of the activities you have planned, and pulling them together so that there is a group understanding of what you expect from the class. There are many icebreakers you may be able to use to set up these expectations, but instead of including pure ‘icebreakers’, we’ve tried to make sure they all have a primary function, with that of icebreaker normally being a bonus.

Equally, by the end of the class, you need to be sure that the topics you have been teaching have been understood. Again, everyone’s time will have been wasted if no learning has taken place, and as librarians we typically have very little teaching time and cannot afford to waste it! You should also end your lesson knowing your class have a clear idea of how they will apply the knowledge gained in that session.

The start and end of a teaching session therefore both need ways of checking knowledge and should be an opportunity to bring the class together to form a clear idea of expectations. Preferably in our normally very limited contact time, in ways that are quick and easy to carry out!

As such, this chapter provides ways of easily checking knowledge, setting up the expectation of active involvement in their learning, and helping your learners express how they will develop and apply the knowledge and skills gained in their future work and study.

All stand

Uses: A quick test of knowledge that can be competitive if you wish. Materials required: None.

Notes: Very easy and quick method that can be used in any session, whatever be the size.

How to use it:

 Ask the whole class to stand up.

 Ask the class a question with two possible answers, preferably with YES/NO or TRUE/FALSE answer. Tell them to stay standing for one response and to sit for the other.

 Ask another question, but only those who got the first one correct take part.

 Continue as long as you want!

Variations: Use for Boolean search terms – those people who satisfy the search you call out stay standing, the others sit down, similar to ‘Guess Who?’, the board game, but with Boolean operators thrown in! So, for instance, you could tell them to stay standing if they are ‘Male AND wear glasses’.

Pitfalls: Some people may be uncomfortable standing up, feeling that they are ‘on display’ in some way. Keep an eye out for signs of discomfort in your class, and use more anonymous ways of testing knowledge if you need to.

Any improvements?

Uses: A way of checking improvements in knowledge between the start and end of a class, to make students realise that they have learnt something! Helps you fine tune your session depending on how knowledgeable they feel they are at the start.

Materials required: A small (A5 or A6) piece of card for each student.

Notes: This is a very quick test of knowledge or perceived skill at the start and end of a session.

How to use it:

 Distribute a card to each student.

 Ask them to write down how much they know about a topic, how long they spend carrying out a task, or how confident they feel carrying out a task.

 Collect the responses together at the front of the class.

 Collate the responses in a way you can easily read or display to the class.

 At the end of a session, ask the same question again and once more collate the responses – you may have to do this verbally or as a show of hands to save time collating the responses.

 Hopefully you’ll be able to show an improvement between the start and end of the session.

Variations: Use interactive handsets (clickers) for instant responses to your question – remember to save the responses from the start, however, or you won’t be able to carry out the comparison.

Pitfalls: If there is no real improvement, it can be really embarrassing!

Bag of fears

Uses: This can be a nice way to acknowledge students’ fears about a topic and to reassure the members of your class that it is okay that they don’t know everything.

Materials required: Small piece of card for each student (A5 or A6).

Notes: Make sure you allow enough time to cover all the fears at the end of the session – you may not have covered all the fears in the main session. It helps if you can scan through them part way through the session, perhaps during an activity or discussion, so you can adapt the session accordingly.

How to use it:

 Distribute a card to each student.

 Ask them to write down the biggest fear about the topic you are about to cover.

 Collect the responses together in a bag or opaque wallet.

 At the end of a session review each ‘fear’ and ask if it has been addressed.

Variations: With a large group, or if you are worried you may not have time to sort through the cards, you could ask the class themselves to partially sort through the cards for you. Ask them to write their own list, or as a pair. Then compile them together as a group of four, possibly scaling up to eight (two groups combined) and sixteen, if the layout of the room allows them to work together in this way.

Pitfalls: If you don’t manage to sort through the ‘fears’ and address them during the session, the members of the class with those concerns may feel more frustrated than if you hadn’t asked for their ‘fears’ in the first place. Make sure you build in enough flexibility to address everything that may come up, even if it is just to say you will provide more support or information afterwards.

Class concerns

Uses: Focuses attention on the session at hand. Highlight common experiences, anxieties, and expectations. Allows you to adjust your teaching according to the concerns of the class.

Materials required: Small piece of card for each student (A5 or A6).

Notes: This is a non-threatening way of gathering consensus from the class as to what material should be covered in the session. It works in both large and small groups, though in a large lecture theatre you will need to make it clear that when the cards reach the end of a row, they should be passed on to the row in front. You’ll also need an assistant to shuttle cards from the front to the back of the class, and collect them some time into the session once the cards have had a chance to circulate through the whole room.

How to use it:

 Distribute a card to each student.

 Ask them to write down the main thing they’d like to learn from the session or any concerns they have about the subject you’ll be covering.

 Get the students to pass the card to the person immediately to their right.

 Ask them to read their neighbour’s card and tick the card if they also would like that question asked.

 Repeat until the cards reach the original writers of the questions.

 Identify which questions received the most votes (ticks) and either answer them immediately, explain they will be answered later, or explain why you won’t be covering that material and perhaps point them in the direction of further help to cover the question.

 Collect all the cards in and look at them at a later date to check what sort of questions or concerns the students have.

Variations: A simpler method, that won’t collect the same richness of suggestions from the class, is to ask the class to call out the main things they’d like to see covered in the session (one row at a time in large lecture theatres). Then take a show of hands to vote on the most popular...