Active Learning Activities

Biologist Says: Mini-Game for Recalling Biology Terms

A familiar and easy to implement game to help students with recall of biological terms.

BioQuest: Mini-Game for Categorizing Biology Terms

A fun consolidating activity at the end of a topic or unit to help students categorize and consolidate biological terms.

100 Years of Work

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

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.

From Bauhaus to Britney: A Catchall Timeline

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

Find Someone Who… An Icebreaker With Purpose

In this activity, students try to find someone for each list item. Items highlight key issues explored in the course.

Snowball Starter: Goals of Science Education

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

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

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

Blended Learning: Just in Time

How to Write Reading Annotations

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

Instructional Survey

The aim of this activity is to provide students with an overview of survey design and execution.

Vénus d’Ille: Police Enquiry

This activity has students challenge the literal meaning of a text (ie. the supernatural explanation for a murder).

Rock Paper Scissors Lizard

Sustainability Development Plan (Part 1 and Part 2)

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

Disappearing Sea Otters

Students take the role of an ecologist and try to analyze species behaviours and predict population change.

Darwin’s Finches: Natural Selection

In this game-based activity, students learn about natural selection, evolution of traits, and data collection and analysis.  

How to Read a Research Article

Students learn how to read a research article and what information is contained in each section of the article.