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

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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.

Languages and Literature

Editing Exercise: Mock Academic Conference

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

Photo by Kaleidico from Unsplash
Education STEM

Drawing to Learn: Doing Science is more Complex that You Think

Students draw a diagram of how they think scientists "do science." These are improved then compared with an expert diagram.

100 years of work (Public Domain)
Applied arts

100 Years of Work

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

Biology STEM

Hemoglobin Hustle: An Adaptation of Race for the Hat

Used the Race for the Hat activity to create a Jeopardy-style session on blood & blood disorders for a pathophysiology class.

Campaign Creators photo from Unsplash
Psychology Social sciences

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
Humanities Social sciences

Put Your Thesis on Trial

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

Water rat - Photo by Matt Seymour, Unsplash.
Biology STEM

Evolution of Sexual Reproduction: Construct a Species

Students construct a fictional animal species by selecting traits related to sexual reproduction.

Health science STEM

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.

Elementary school science teacher in biology class
Interdisciplinary

Snowball Starter: Goals of Science Education

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

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.

Psychology Social sciences

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.

Health science STEM

Data Mining and Sorting: Scaffolding the Exploration of Scientific Articles

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

Health science Biology

Family Matters : Inclusive Genetics Pedigree

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

Health science

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

Health science

Communicable Puzzles: Children’s Most Common Infectious Diseases

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

Physics STEM

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.

Biology STEM

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.

Humanities Social sciences

Can I Use the Internet?

Students learn to evaluate the credibility of online sources by evaluating the credibility of their research sources.

Mathematics STEM

An Abundance of Bells

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

Biochemistry STEM

Blended Learning: Just in Time

This activity benefits students by exposing them to literature in their field while preparing them for the following lecture.

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.

Languages and Literature

Visual Interpretation of “The Story of an Hour”

Students learn to interpret a text and analyze a theme by creating a visual interpretation of a story.

Biology Health science STEM

Call Me By My Organelle

In this single-class activity, students use cards to match cells with their organelles and functions.