Enhancing Learning Through Active Engagement Strategies

1. Teaching, Learning, and Active Engagement Why is active engagement so important for learning?

2. How Do Students Learn 1? • They learn by actively participating • Observing, speaking, writing, listening, thinking, drawing, doing • They must be engaged to learn • Learning is enhanced when students see potential implications, applications, and benefits to others • Learning builds on current understanding How People Learn (NRC, 1999)

3. Learning Styles How does the person prefer to process information? • Actively – through engagement in physical activity or discussion • Reflectively – through introspection Questionnaire - Barbara Soloman & Richard Felder http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html Thanks to Robyn Dunbar and Marcelo Clerici-Arias, Stanford University Center for Teaching and Learning

4. Your Learning Styles Active Reflective

5. Learning Styles What type of information does the person preferentially perceive? • Sensory – sights, sounds, physical sensations, data … • Intuitive – memories, ideas, models, abstract…

6. Your Learning Styles Sensory Intuitive

7. Learning Styles Through which modality is sensory information most effectively perceived? • Visual – pictures, diagrams, graphs, demonstrations, field trips • Verbal – sounds, written and spoken words, formulas

8. Your Learning Styles Visual Verbal

9. Learning Styles How does the person progress toward understanding? • Sequentially – in logical progression of small incremental steps • Globally – in large jumps, holistically

10. Your Learning Styles Sequential Global

11. How Do Students Learn 2? • Different people are most comfortable learning in different ways • Multiple representations enhance the learning of all students

12. Context for Morning Sessions • Active engagement is important for learning • Students have different learning styles Expand your “toolbox” of teaching strategies Most students most students passive active