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.

GoTestMe: Student-Generated Test Questions

In this test review activity, students create questions, exchange them with a peer, and answer each other's questions.

Earth History Walk

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

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.

Put Your Thesis on Trial

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

From Bauhaus to Britney: A Catchall Timeline

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

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.

Data Mining and Sorting: Scaffolding the Exploration of Scientific Articles

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

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

Card Sorting Activities for Mechanics

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

Feeling Feverish: Homeostasis of Pyrexia

This activity helps students consolidate their knowledge of homeostatic feedback loops through application & interpretation.

An Abundance of Bells

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

Low Stakes Debate

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

Categorizing for Review

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

Les Ateliers de Creation

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

Peer Review, Assessment & Feedback

Students gain experience with a model of writing which employs Peer Assessment as the Active Learning strategy.

Acid Base Equilibrium

Students learn how to problem solve and review their peers in a low stakes situation (no grades).

Model Building

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

Schools of Thought in Psychology

Gender and Job Inequality

Sustainability Development Plan (Part 1 and Part 2)

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

Rédaction d’un Paragraphe de Texte Expressif

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