Activity aim: To share notetaking strategies; to report back on group work in a more efficient way; to keep track of what happened during a learning activity for students’ later reference; to share questions and confusion in real time Materials: … Continue reading Collaborative Notetaking
Activity aim: To (quickly and effectively) check student competency in using a tech tool; to encourage collaboration and peer teaching Materials needed: A checklist with items that students should be able to know how to do. Time: 15-30 minutes (or … Continue reading Student Self-Check
Activity aim: To co-create, consolidate, and review key concepts; to give students a way to refer back to previous concepts that they may have missed or misunderstood; to facilitate class community and collaboration Materials: Pen and paper Time: ongoing (can … Continue reading Collaborative Resource Creation
Activity aim: To understand the concept of the “national character” in Lu Xun’s short stories Materials: Pen and paper Time: 15-20 minutes Activity description: Post a question on slide: What constitutes the Chinese national character Lu Xun criticizes and tries … Continue reading Think, Pair, Share in Chinese Literature
Activity aim: Team work and collaboration; conducting marketing research; peer review Materials: See below Time estimated: See below Prep for teacher: See below Note: This series of 6 activities are distinct steps in a group research project that amounts to 30% of the student’s … Continue reading A Group Research Project in 6 Parts (Marketing)
Activity aim: To provide students with an opportunity to gain exposure to multiple readings; to encourage students to review / synthesize / draw connections between multiple texts; to review reading in preparation for a discussion Materials needed: An article questionnaire … Continue reading Jigsaw Reading
Activity aim: Learn normalization techniques by having students set up cases that need normalizing, and their peers resolving the normalization errors. Materials: Blackboard Discussion Board discussion. Time estimated: 30 minutes Prep for teacher: Set up Discussion Board discussion. Prepare the … Continue reading Normalization Game (CIS)
Activity aim: Spot common error in SQL statements, fix errors by writing correct SQL Materials: Printed worksheets Time estimated: 60 minutes Prep for teacher: Set up worksheets. Break students into pairs or groups (no more than 4) Note: Designed for … Continue reading Fix “Broken” SQL Statement (CIS)
Activity aim: Develop the applicability of the concept of slope to non-linear relations (curves). Students compute different rates of change: a velocity in one example and a rate of revenue increase in the other. They recognize the concept of slope … Continue reading Introduction to the Derivatives (Calculus)
An active learning module to analyze, process, and learn visual information with students providing content, research, and presentation (inside out lecture). Activity aim: Students will review, synthesize, and select exemplary samples of contrast on their homework reading to further understand … Continue reading Understanding Contrast (Graphic Design)
Activity aim: To prompt discussion; to develop synthesis skills; to build classroom community Materials needed: Sticky notes, poster paper (you can also just write topics on the board), pens Time: 10-15 minutes (or more), depending on the group size Activity Description … Continue reading Sticky note check in
Activity aim: To get students to synthesize the most important “takeaways”; to build student confidence to ask questions; to have students reflect on their points of confusion Materials: Nothing! Activity description: Think / pair / share is probably the simplest … Continue reading Think / pair / share
Activity aim: To review; to provide an authentic task for repetitive practice; to encourage class discussion without putting students on the spot; to help students formulate questions Materials: It can be helpful to have a printed worksheet or slide with … Continue reading Pyramid
Activity aim: To prompt discussion; to facilitate peer teaching, content review, or practice Materials needed: Sticky notes, pieces of tape, or shipping labels. This is also possible to do without any of these things (students can hold up their cards … Continue reading What’s Your Number?
Activity aim: Four Corners can be used in a wide variety of ways: to facilitate class discussion, to help create a classroom culture at the beginning of the year, or to shake up the energy in the room and confirm … Continue reading Four Corners
Activity aim: to model classroom discussion; to encourage more class participation; Materials needed: Nothing! Time estimated: 45-60 minutes (it can be shorter than this) Activity description: Using the fishbowl technique (and its many variations!) to facilitate class discussions can … Continue reading Fishbowl Discussion
Activity aim: to encourage peer teaching; to catch students up who have missed key content; to check student progress and generate questions Materials needed: Two sets of instructor-generated questions (set A and set B) Time estimated: This can … Continue reading Jigsaw Interview or Three Step Interview
Activity aim: To facilitate peer-to-peer / cooperative teaching (or review); to reinforce / review content; to get students to visualize abstract content in more concrete ways Materials + time needed: Activity 1: A list of vocabulary words or other … Continue reading Information Sort