Reading List for Exploring Active Learning Literature

What is active learning? Is there evidence that it works? How do I do it?

If you’re asking any of these questions, you might be interested in these six short readings (two research articles and four short blogs/articles) addressing active learning research or practice. Several readings provide evidence and arguments for why active learning leads to successful student outcomes while other readings on this list claim otherwise. These different, and at times, contradictory perspectives on active learning’s effectiveness and application make for a lively conversation if you read with a group of instructors.

The readings, in suggested order: 

1. Does Active Learning Work? A Review of the Research
   Key Quote: “Although the results vary in strength, this study has found support for all forms of active learning examined”
2. Learning More about Active Learning
   Key Quote: “Using active-learning strategies in the classroom may not be enough to improve learning; you have to know how to use them well.”
3. Active Learning Not Associated with Student Learning in a Random Sample of College Biology Courses
   Key Quote: “Our study revealed that active learning was not associated with student learning in a broad population of introductory college biology courses…. Simply adding clicker questions or a class discussion to a lecture is unlikely to lead to large learning gains. Effectively using active learning requires skills, expertise, and classroom norms that are fundamentally different from those used in traditional lectures.”

   

4. Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics
   Key Quote: “The impact of these data should be like the Surgeon General’s report on “Smoking and Health” in 1964–they should put to rest any debate about whether active learning is more effective than lecturing.”
5. Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics
   Note: This is a wired.com summary of the above article. 
6. Incorporating (Good) Active Learning in the Classroom
   Note: A Learning Sciences (and practical) take on active learning. 

Whether you read these articles for your own reflection or you wish to create a reading group around them, you might find these notes for reading useful. As you read, consider the following:

• How are the articles/blogs defining active learning?
• Find and highlight or underline each author’s definition and then go back and compare them.
• How do the different definitions square with your own?
• Why are so many of the articles focused on STEM disciplines?

Additional prompts for conversation:

• How do you design a successful active learning experience for your students?
• What are the components of a successful active learning activity for your courses/discipline?
• How do you know it worked?

If you decide to do a reading group with your department or a group of colleagues, please share your experience, ideas, and thoughts on twitter and tag us @MosaicIU or Instagram @Mosaic_IU. After the readings, if you’d like Mosaic staff to come talk with your group, help develop ideas, or have a consultation in a particular room, feel free to contact us at mosaic@iu.edu. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss out on any of our upcoming posts.