Active Learning Activities

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.

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.

Editing Exercise: Mock Academic Conference

Research, writing & editing activity that builds interpretive skills and the ability to incorporate research.

100 Years of Work

This is a jigsaw activity where students map key developments in workplace design over 100 years.

Finding Catharsis in Film and Media

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

Put Your Thesis on Trial

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

Taskmaster: Diction Icebreakers

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

Crossing Dimensions: A Math Odyssey into Cross Products

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

More Than One Way to Cook an Egg: Exploring Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Teams explore Gardner's Theory, present one component, summarize presentation content, and conduct a self-assessment.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in the Workplace

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

Crash Course: Collision Theory

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

Rough Draft Workshop: Group Peer Assessment Jigsaw Activity for Case Study or Procedural Writing

Students bring a rough draft of a written group project for peer evaluation and feedback

Communicable Puzzles: Children’s Most Common Infectious Diseases

Using the Jigsaw strategy, students become an “expert” for one communicable disease through self-directed research.

Card Sorting Activities for Mechanics

This activity encourages students to classify cards according to various criteria to make concept connections.

Don’t go NUTS: A Case Study on the Physiology of Stress

In this activity students apply their knowledge of the physiology of the stress response to a real-life research scenario.

Categorizing for Review

The aim of this single-class activity is to help students consolidate their knowledge and review concepts seen in class.

CLAW At-Home Experiment: Crystallization of Borax

CLAW At-Home Experiment: Organic Chemistry Introduction to Solubility

Live Demonstrations of Beats and Interference of Sound

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

Gender Socialization throughout the Life Course

Students complete a grid that illustrates different life periods that reinforce gender narratives.

CLAW At-Home Experiment: Spectrophotometry Using Gatorade

CLAW At-Home Experiment: Volumetric Analysis of Household Acid with Cabbage Juice

CLAW At-Home Experiment: Paper Chromatography of Food Dyes and Ink

CLAW At-Home Experiment: Colligative Properties