Active Learning

"Students do not absorb knowledge through their bottoms!"

I was at a conference years ago, in a workshop about gross motor ideas for Pre-K and the presenter said this while explaining why it's important for students to get up and move and how it activates all parts of the brain.  Her direct quote was a little less PG rated, but you get the idea.  Obviously this statement made everyone laugh, but it really stuck with me about how our instruction and class day should look like.  This comes fairly naturally in the Early Childhood setting as we are doing much of our learning through play, but it is just as important as students get older.



Active learning, involves student initiated learning, and the opportunity to reflect on their learning.  It goes beyond worksheets and essays, old standbys of the classroom, and encourages students to be creative in their learning and the product they create. Active learning is often also 'interactive' learning as you may have to work with others.  This methodology can also draw from many different disciplines, and help students utilize them in a more meaningful way. Using and acquiring knowledge in this way helps students do work in the way they will in future employment and can lead to new and creative ways of doing things.

I have some fond memories of active learning projects when I was young, and some less fond ones of the dreaded group project, where no one does anything, or not everyone pulls their weight.  Technology, make group projects much easier with tools like the Google Suite or Padlet, where students can collaborate on projects from anywhere, eliminating one hurdle of trying to sync everyone's schedules. This collaboration and exchange of ideas is a great element of active learning.

Image Source: Personal Screenshot
Toni, Michael and Melissa's Padlet

I hadn't previously used Padlet, but I found it to be a great and easy to use tool.  I liked how you could visually present your information. I liked that you could easily add links, videos and audio files too.  Students can choose to present their own materials on a given topic or work together to compromise on the information presented.  These types of tools can also be beneficial to students who may have difficulty with traditional learning activities.  These collaborative tools can also work for long term projects, as they can be ever evolving in a way a paper and pencil activity cannot. Technology has paved the way to may active learning (and the once dreaded group project) to be a fun and easy way of learning for all.