Active Learning Activities

Group Work Project Contracting

For instructors planning student group work projects over many weeks or months.

Taskmaster: Diction Icebreakers

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

Learning in Everyday Life

In this integrative assignment, students analyze their everyday activities through the lens of various learning theories.

Running on Water: Activating Prior Knowledge of Static Equilibrium

Students watch, discuss, then analyze the veracity of a video in which hydrophobic shoes allow people to run on water.

Navigating the Grey: Ethics in Nursing

In this card sorting activity, students create categories with words related to ethics in nursing.

Silent Discussion

Conduct a discussion in your class without students ever speaking a word!

Reimagining the Reading Quiz: Peer Instruction in English

Students do a reading quiz in class and revise their answers after developing and sharing a rationale for their choice.

Decoding Decimal, Binary & Octal: Number System Adventures

In teams, students explore the binary number system and create parameters for an octal number system.

Snowball Starter: Goals of Science Education

In this activity, the snowball strategy links students' prior beliefs to a deeper inquiry of science education goals.

The Heart of the Matter: Exploring Exercise in Cardiac Disease

Before class, students read an article and gather 5 elements. In class, they "pool" findings and sort into categories.

Nature of Science Ice-Breaker

A first class ice-breaker activity introducing the nature of science.

Role Reveal 201: Exploring Interdisciplinary Collaboration

In teams, students from each discipline complete a patient interview then contrast their approaches.

Cross-Disciplinary Synergy 101: Uniting Expertise for Success

In teams, students interact, share information on their profession, and create cases where each discipline is needed

Family Matters : Inclusive Genetics Pedigree

In teams, students will build a pedigree chart and determine inheritance patterns using inclusive pedigree practices.

Crash Course: Collision Theory

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

Mock Data Collection and Role Play for Health Disciplines In-Lab Practice

Students play the role of a client in a simulated clinical intervention to provide a more authentic context for lab practice

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

To Pass or Not to Pass: Acting out Membrane Transport

Aim of the activity is to increase students’ understanding of molecules’ movement through the cell membrane.

Controversy in the Science Classroom: Nature of Science Quiz

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

Feeling Feverish: Homeostasis of Pyrexia

Preparation for Future Learning: Electric Flux

An Abundance of Bells

Peerwise Assignment: Human Body