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.

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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.

Biology Environmental science Geography

Earth History Walk

A self-guided walk exploring how – and why – Earth changed over its 4.6 billion year history.

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.

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.

Social sciences Psychology

Dragon’s Den – Brain Exploration Techniques

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

Social sciences Humanities

Put Your Thesis on Trial

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

Languages and Literature

Taskmaster: Diction Icebreakers

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

Collaborative Meeting - Photo by Redd F from

Social sciences Psychology

Learning in Everyday Life

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

Applied arts

From Bauhaus to Britney: A Catchall Timeline

Students map key movements in Architecture and Design alongside social, political, artistic, economic, and tech milestones.

Mathematics

Crossing Dimensions: A Math Odyssey into Cross Products

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

STEM Health science

Safety First! Rank and Sort Case for Clinical Reasoning Skills

Case-based ranking & sorting activities based on pre-class quiz on exercise safety in a client with a cardiac condition.

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.

Health science

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.

Physics

Nature of Science Ice-Breaker

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

STEM Health science

Data Mining and Sorting: Scaffolding the Exploration of Scientific Articles

The purpose of this activity is to deepen students' understanding of cardiac pathophysiology.

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

Card Sorting Activities for Mechanics

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

STEM Physics

Real-World Physics: Mini Video Projects

These mini-video projects require students to engage with course concepts and make connections to the world in which we live.

STEM Mathematics

An Abundance of Bells

The aim of this activity is to demonstrate that many continuous data of nature and psychology follow a normal distribution.

Humanities

Low Stakes Debate

Students learn to see an issue from multiple perspectives and think critically about arguments from different perspectives.

Interdisciplinary STEM Physics

How to Write Reading Annotations

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

Humanities

Categorizing for Review

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

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.

Active Learning Activities