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

40 Results

Languages and Literature

Editing Exercise: Mock Academic Conference

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

Chemistry STEM

Keeping Up With the Trends

This activity is aimed at getting students to write sound, scientific rationales for observed phenomena.

Photo by Noom Peerapong from Unsplash
Humanities Social sciences

Finding Catharsis in Film and Media

Students analyze a film or piece of media watched in the course using two concepts: climax and catharsis.

Humanities Social sciences

Group Work Project Contracting

For instructors planning student group work projects over many weeks or months.

Photo by Ramon Salinero from unsplash
Biology STEM

Electron Odyssey: Journey through the Mitochondria’s Electron Transport Chain

Students play the roles of protein complexes to see how electrons, protons, and energy moves through the ETC to produce ATP.

Photo by Michael Fenton from Unsplash
Languages and Literature

Taskmaster: Diction Icebreakers

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

Health science

Navigating the Grey: Ethics in Nursing

In this card sorting activity, students create categories with words related to ethics in nursing.

Languages and Literature

Reimagining the Reading Quiz: Peer Instruction in English

Students do a reading quiz in class and revise their answers after developing and sharing a rationale for their choice.

Mathematics

Crossing Dimensions: A Math Odyssey into Cross Products

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

Two people in a conversation
Psychology Social sciences

Who Are You? A Multidimensional Examination of Self-Concept

Students investigate their self-concept, compare it to a classmate, assess differences between self- and social perception.

Physics

Nature of Science Ice-Breaker

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

Health science Interdisciplinary

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

Chemistry

Crash Course: Collision Theory

Students use PhET simulation to learn how factors affect reaction rate (collision theory) through hands-on activities

Chemistry Biology

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.

Physics STEM

Controversy in the Science Classroom: Nature of Science Quiz

Mathematics STEM

An Abundance of Bells

STEM Physics Interdisciplinary

How to Write Reading Annotations

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

Chemistry STEM

CLAW At-Home Experiment: Crystallization of Borax

Chemistry STEM

CLAW At-Home Experiment: Organic Chemistry Introduction to Solubility

Physics STEM

Live Demonstrations of Beats and Interference of Sound

In this activity, students learn to apply the principal of superposition to two new sound contexts.

Chemistry STEM

CLAW At-Home Experiment: Spectrophotometry Using Gatorade

Chemistry STEM

CLAW At-Home Experiment: Volumetric Analysis of Household Acid with Cabbage Juice

Chemistry STEM

CLAW At-Home Experiment: Paper Chromatography of Food Dyes and Ink

Chemistry STEM

CLAW At-Home Experiment: Colligative Properties