Foundation Coalition: Active/Cooperative Learning

Felder -
Transcript: Planning Cooperative Learning Lessons "Planning Activities from Scratch"

Faculty members have this misconception that this is a huge undertaking: to plan an active learning lesson. . . . When I am lecturing, when I am teaching a way I have always taught, like every teacher, occasionally I’ll stop my lecture and ask a question. . . . Take the identical question that you would have asked under any circumstances and instead of asking the whole class, just tell them to turn to their neighbor or get in groups of three and answer that question. Give them thirty seconds . . . give them a minute . . . whatever you think is appropriate. Then stop them, collect a couple of the answers—that is vitally important that you collect some answers, rather than asking for volunteers—and then go on about your business. . . . Anytime that I’m asking a question that has more than one possible answer, I’ve got a brainstorm. I just throw it out to the class and tell them to get in groups of three and say to them, “This is a brainstorm. Team with the longest list in one minute or two minutes wins.” And let them go. Again, I haven’t really done anything by way of preparation.

BACK