Active Learning Activities

Active learning activities are tailored to specific learning outcomes and content. They incorporate one or more of the evidence-based strategies. Structured to expose their theoretical underpinnings, the activities can be used by practitioners and researchers alike.

Active Learning Activities

31 Results

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Languages and Literature General Interdisciplinary

Quote Unquote: A Two-Stage Quiz

Students learn to apply the rules for integration, punctuation, referencing and formatting of direct quotes in their writing.

Applied arts

Let Me Draw You a Picture…

Students use visual thinking to diagram / illustrate a subject with the only criteria being they have expert knowledge of it.

Photo by Nicolas Meunier from Unsplash.
STEM Physics

Mystery Tube Challenge: The Nature & Process of Science

Students model the hidden structure of a sealed tube as a metaphor for how scientists explore the unseen.

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Social sciences Humanities

Finding Catharsis in Film and Media

Students analyze a film or piece of media watched in the course using two concepts: climax and catharsis.

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Social sciences Psychology

Dragon’s Den – Brain Exploration Techniques

Students engage in a gamified activity mimicking the popular tv show the Dragon's Den.

Photo by Conny Schneider from Unsplash
Social sciences Humanities

Put Your Thesis on Trial

Scaffolded debate that explores the nuances of a belief that the teacher has introduced.

Photo by Michael Fenton from Unsplash
Languages and Literature

Taskmaster: Diction Icebreakers

These gamified activities will help sensitize students to the nuances of diction and allow them to work together.

Mathematics

Crossing Dimensions: A Math Odyssey into Cross Products

In groups, students learn about orthogonality and cross products by creating geometrical shapes.

Young university students studying with computer in cafe. Group of people in campus library. College teenager using laptop at table. Group study for school assignment.
Psychology

Sensation and Perception Lab

The lab explores the senses of taste, smell, touch, proprioception and vision.

Social sciences Psychology

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in the Workplace

In groups, students explore Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in its application to workplace scenarios

Chemistry

Crash Course: Collision Theory

Students use PhET simulation to learn how factors affect reaction rate (collision theory) through hands-on activities

STEM Physics

Controversy in the Science Classroom: Nature of Science Quiz

This activity aims to bring about conceptual change by making explicit common misconceptions about the nature of science.

Interdisciplinary STEM Physics

How to Write Reading Annotations

This activity helps students improve their quality of reading annotations using platforms like Perusall.

Humanities

5 Senses Lab

The aim of this activity is to help students understand the rationalist concerns about the use of our experience and senses.

Languages and Literature

Les Ateliers de Creation

In this multiple-class activity, students write three 250 texts, then learn to revise their writing based on peer feedback.

STEM Physics

Two Stage Quiz

This activity gives the students the opportunity to talk about the concepts seen in class and to discuss with their peers.

STEM Physics

Live Demonstrations of Beats and Interference of Sound

In this activity, students learn to apply the principal of superposition to two new sound contexts.

STEM Physics

Model Building

Students learn to build a conceptual model describing a situation involving an accelerating charged particle.

STEM Chemistry

This Field Day of Mine

This activity takes a look at the environmental impact of mining and the quantification of environmental contaminants.

Social sciences

Gender and Job Inequality

Environmental science

Sustainability Development Plan (Part 1 and Part 2)

In this activity, students learn to define sustainability and apply this to a single Montreal neighbourhood. 

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Languages and Literature

Rédaction d’un Paragraphe de Texte Expressif

In this multiple-class activity, students write a “texte expressif”, applying theory & grammatical lessons learned in class.

Social sciences

Museum Tour

In this version of a gallery walk, students create mind maps, showcase them in the class, and peer-review each other's work.

STEM Chemistry

Do You Know Your Stereochemistry?

Students collaborate and learn from each other on how to interpret molecules in 3D based on molecular drawings.