Workshops

Classroom Activities that Promote Active Learning and Critical Thinking

Thursday, October 30, 2003
2:30 - 3:30pm
Education 2277
(Distinguished Alumni Conference Room)

Often, despite all our hopes and preparation, we find that our students are not ready to learn at the level we want them to learn. Even carefully planned class sessions can be largely unsuccessful if students are intellectually unprepared, misguided, or are passive. How can we foster our students' critical thinking while being mindful of where they are conceptually and cognitively? This workshop explores what we know about student behaviors, what we know about learning, and how we can bridge the gap between what students know and what we want them to know using activelearning techniques.

Karen Hallett, Ph.D. Director of Instructional Consulting and Adjunct Professor of Telecommunications and Education will present some recent findings about the academic life of post-secondary students, and then talk about some ways to engage, re-educate, and guide them toward critical thinking using active learning techniques. An important part of this workshop will be your participation. Are there topical areas of your courses in which you would like to improve student engagement and/or understanding? What questions would you like to discuss?

Workshop Materials

• Classroom Activities that Promote Critical Thinking (pdf)
• Active Learning Techniques (pdf)
• Analysis and Redesign Activity (pdf)
• Classroom Scenario (pdf)

Photos from Workshop:

	Karen Hallet presenting Active Learning PowerPoint presentation
Workshop participants working on Active Learning scenarios
	Karen leading Classroom Activities demonstration
Mark and Roh helping out
	Participants discussing Classroom Scenarios
More discussion