Active learning is a term employed in the pedagogy of teaching and learning to promote instruction that develops students' skills so that they read, discuss, write, or solve problems in class instead of just listening.
Faculty from all disciplines can employ strategies to promote student-centered active participation in the creation of knowledge. Active learning can be simple and involve time removed from lecture when students engage their neighbors in discussion, or it can be much more complex, as for example when students prepare in-class debates.
The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) defines active learning as: "Students' efforts to actively construct their knowledge." Active Learning also involves moving away from "teaching by telling," and progressing toward "teaching by constructing." Active learning strategies have proven to advance student critical thinking skills as well as retention rates.
Many techniques promote active learning. Here are just a few:
Minute papers: Have students answer a question based on lecture or reading material. Ask them to write for a minute or two. Then have them share their answers with a neighbor before coming together as a group for class discussion.
Strip sequence: Give students strips of paper that represent a jumbled sequence of knowledge. Have them work together to organize the correct sequence. This exercise works as well for chronologies. Cut up strips of paper that represent events. Have students work together to put the events in the correct chronology to help explain process. You can also use this exercise with memoir or diary entries and have students arrange them in the correct chronological order.
Case-based learning: Using cases in class allows students to consider specific situations and determine how to reach conclusions while realizing the implications and outcomes of their decisions. Small groups can study cases in class, after which responses can be debated with the class as a whole.
There is a great deal of information about active learning in the Scholarship on Teaching and Learning. Read from The Chronicle of Higher Education.