Eberly Center › Teaching & Learning Resources › Instructional Strategies › Active Learning Strategies

Active Learning Strategies

What is it?

Active learning is broadly defined as instructional methods used in class that intentionally require all or most students to cognitively engage beyond passively receiving knowledge. Examples of passive learning are listening to a lecture or taking transcriptional notes (Prince, 2004). Active learning activities may be done individually or in small or large groups.

Why Does it Work?

At the broadest level, active learning is effective because it facilitates the processing of essential information in ways that may not occur in an otherwise passive learning environment. When instructors use active learning strategies, students are more likely to engage in deeper cognitive processes that are beneficial to learning, including, but not limited to:

• explaining concepts in their own words,
• connecting new information to prior knowledge,
• comparing and contrasting different ideas, or
• applying concepts.

Active learning leverages the phenomenon known as the “generation effect” (Bertsch et al., 2007), i.e., we remember things better when we actively generate those things rather than passively read them.

Depending on its implementation, active learning can also provide opportunities for low-stakes practice and feedback (Lovett et al., 2023). This feedback can make students’ knowledge and skill development more visible to the instructor, acting as a Classroom Assessment Technique. Consequently, instructors may proactively identify gaps in students’ learning and adjust instruction, practice opportunities, and/or feedback accordingly.

What is the Evidence That it Works?

Copious high-quality research shows that when compared to lecture, active learning is beneficial for student learning and persistence (Freeman et al., 2014; Prince, 2004).

For example, in a meta-analysis of 225 classroom research studies spanning eight disciplines (Freeman et al., 2014), embedding active learning courses increased student performance on assessments like exams by about 6% (a 0.5 standard deviation increase) and decreased student Ds, Fs, and withdrawals by 12%, or a factor of 1.5. This was true across a range of course sizes, including large courses (>100 students). Additional research, including another recent meta-analysis, suggests that active learning can decrease equity gaps for underrepresented populations such as racially minoritized and first-generation students (Eddy & Hogan, 2014; Theobald et al., 2020).

Figure 1. Average course passing rate for students receiving traditional lecture vs active learning. Findings from meta-analysis (n=225 studies) by Freeman et al. (2014).

How Can I Use it in My Class?

Name	Description	Examples
Minute Paper	Students write on a notecard or sheet of paper, for 1-5 minutes, in response to an open-ended prompt.	“Today we discussed conductive heat transfer. In one minute, list as many of the principal features of this process as you can remember.”
Think-Pair-Share	Have students answer a question and compare their answers with a partner to synthesize a joint solution to share with the class. Can be used with clickers.	“From the reading, identify the author’s main point using two supporting reasons from the text.”
Case Studies	Use real-life stories that describe what happened to a community, family, school, industry, or individual to prompt students to integrate classroom knowledge. with real-world situations, actions, and consequences.	“Consider the marketing strategies that P&G used to develop its Pringles line of potato chips. Would you consider their marketing strategies successful Why or why not?”

See The Eberly Center’s Active Learning Activity Table for descriptions and examples of many more active learning activities!

Time	Activity Title	Description	Example
1 min	Minute Paper	Students write on a notecard or sheet of paper, for 1-5 minutes, in response to an open-ended prompt.	Mechanical Engineering – “Today we discussed conductive heat transfer. In one minute, list as many of the principal features of this process as you can remember.” Biology - What does the term “biodiversity” mean to you (think outside of the box)?
1 min	Muddiest Point	Students write on a notecard or sheet of paper the concept or idea they are still struggling with the most.	General – “On your note card, write the one concept you are having the most trouble understanding, and which you could use more practice on.”
1 min	Application Card	Students are provided with a task that challenges them to apply a concept or skill to a situation they have not encountered before, or challenged to generate examples that illustrate a concept to demonstrate transfer of knowledge.	Psychology – Describe two examples that contrast positive versus negative reinforcement? Art History - Is the surrealist work The Hunter by Miro as landscape? Why or why not?
5 min	Think-Pair-Share	Have students answer a question individually, then compare their answers with a partner and synthesize a joint solution to share with the class. Can be used with clickers.	English – “From the Barthes reading, identify the author’s main point using two supporting reasons from the text.” Economics - “How would the output of this model change is we relaxed the assumption that this market is a monopoly?”
5 min	Brainstorming	Introduce a topic or problem and then ask for student input. Give students a minute to write down their ideas, and then record them on the board.	Civil & Environmental Engineering – “What are possible safety issues we might encounter with the process unit we just designed?” Design - “In what ways could folding be used to enhance the aesthetic and functional qualities of this product for the end user?”
5 min	Self-Assessment Quiz	Students take a quiz (typically ungraded), or complete a checklist of ideas to determine understanding of a concept. This can be used at the beginning of the semester, or the beginning of a chapter for students to gauge prior knowledge and identify misconceptions.	Computer Science - Provide increasingly difficult questions to gauge a student’s knowledge of a particular area: Describe the principles of a binary search tree. What is the average big-O search time for a node in a binary search tree? Describe the degenerate tree that accounts for the worst-case search time of O(n). In pseudocode, implement a binary search tree verification function that uses recursion; accept the root of an arbitrary binary tree as input.
5 min	Set It Up	After providing students with a quantitative problem, ask them to solve it using only variables and units, emphasizing the problem-solving process rather than a specific numerical answer. For example, you could ask students to identify which course concepts are relevant to finding a solution, what assumptions need to be made, or what information is missing and how they might calculate it.	Physics – “Using the provided circuit diagram, label the different components (resistors, capacitors, battery, etc.) with variable names. Using Kirchoff’s circuit laws, set up the equations you would use to calculate the current through the circuit at the points identified in the diagram using only variables.”
5-10 min	Concept Maps	Direct students to create a concept map in pairs or small groups. Concept maps represent networks of nodes and links. Nodes are labeled boxes representing concepts; nodes are connected by links (lines connecting the nodes that are defined by verbs). Call on pairs/groups to share their concept map. Alternatively, mapping constraints can be relaxed and students can represent relationships among concepts visually in any way that provides new perspectives. Such visual representations create an overview of related ideas and encourage thinking about a subject in a global, holistic or flexible sense.	Biology – “Create a concept map to connect your understanding of the following terms: natural selection, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, Mendelian genetics, allele frequencies, and evolution. Include connecting phrases between map items.” Public Policy - Create a visual representation of the factors that influenced U.S. immigration policy under President Obama. Indicate your arguments for the relationships among and relative strengths of factors.
5-10 min	Role-Playing	Students are asked to act out a part. In doing so, they get a better idea of the concepts and theories being discussed. Role-playing exercises can range from simple to complex.	Modern Languages – “Role 1: You are a traveler who just missed the train to your next vacation destination. Role 2: You are a travel agent assisting a customer. Both: Playing your assigned role, discuss in [language] the situation and determine a solution to the problem.” Public Policy - “Each member of the group should adopt the perspective of a different stakeholder from the case study on arsenic contamination. Discuss the three proposed policies from those perspectives.”
5-10 min	Contrasting Cases	Provide students with two examples illustrating a single concept. Ask them to work in groups of 2-3 to list the similarities and differences between the cases. Students should be able to see both examples at the same time. Ask groups to share what they came up with. Past research has shown that comparing cases led to better learning than leading the same two cases sequentially (Gentner et al, 2004). **Another way to implement contrasting cases is to show a correct and incorrect procedure. Give students a problem with solutions from two hypothetical students. Ask them to first determine which solution is correct, then compare the correct and incorrect solution, and locate the errors in the incorrect solution.	Psychology: “This handout lists two examples, one for operant conditioning and another for classical conditioning. Work with a partner to think about what similarities and differences you see across the two examples.” Calculus: “On your handout, you will see a problem with two solutions by two different students. Your job is to work with a partner and figure out which one got it correct, and then compare the correct and incorrect solutions to identify the errors in the incorrect one.”
10 min	Case Studies	Use real-life stories that describe what happened to a community, family, school, industry, or individual to prompt students to integrate classroom knowledge with real-world situations, actions, and consequences.	Business - “Consider the marketing strategies that P&G used to develop its Pringles line of potato chips . Would you consider their marketing strategies successful? Why or why not?”
10 min	Analogical Thinking	By using analogies, students reassemble elements from existing knowledge in a novel fashion to create a new idea. Students harvest and combine elements from the analogies generated and apply them to the problem at hand.	Biomedical Engineering: Here is an example of a medical product that does not stick to the patient’s skin. What else is like this? What have others done? Which of those ideas can I modify to fit my problem (i.e., finding another way to prevent this wheelchair sticking to the patient and causing sores)? History: Did US public health practitioners handle the AID/HIV outbreak in the 80s well? How did approaches and outcomes compare to previous epidemics of Typhoid, Influenza and Cholera? Did they learn anything?! Can any lessons learned be applied to the next epidemic (e.g., Zika virus) ?
10 min	Inquiry-Based Learning	Students use an investigative process to discover scientific or engineering concepts for themselves. After the instructor identifies an idea or concept for mastery, a question is posed that asks students to make observations, pose hypotheses, and speculate on conclusions. Then students are asked to tie the activity back to the main idea/concept.	Chemistry – Before electroplating zinc onto the surface of a penny, ask students to predict what will happen. After giving students time to reflect and explain their observations, change the scenario – “What will happen when the Zn-plated penny is heated?” Biology - We hypothesize that a predator (dragonfly larvae) is influencing outcomes of competition between Green Frog and Bullfrog tadpoles in ephemeral ponds. Design an experiment to test this, identifying dependent and independent variables? Draw various ways data from your experiment would support or refute the hypothesis.
20 min	Idea Checklists (Design Heuristics)	Students use a checklist provided by the instructor that will encourage them to examine various characteristics and design possibilities of a subject. Check-lists may include design prompting questions, such as “magnify?”, “modify?”, “rearrange?”, “fold?” and “reverse?”, or illustrate functional perspectives or common design elements/techniques). Whatever the format, check-lists prompt students to consider a menu of unexpected or seemingly unrelated possibilities to inspire alternative approaches and ideas.	Architecture - Assuming a fixed budget of $X, use the list of “green materials” and techniques provided. Propose 3 specific, alternative interventions that would minimize the environmental footprint of the new Carnegie Public Library branch. Design - Using the checklist of design heuristics provided, what ideas can you generate for the design of a camping stove that is powered entirely by solar power without increasing cook times by more than 20%?
20 min	Jigsaw	A general topic is divided into smaller, interrelated pieces. Student groups are assigned one of the pieces to review/confirm knowledge. Then the groups “jigsaw” so that there’s a representative from each piece in each new group; students then teach each other about their piece.	Psychology - Students are assigned to read one of three recent journal articles on neural networks and autism in children. After discussing the study design with their “home groups,” students split into new groups and share the results of their paper, and its strengths and weaknesses with each other.
20 min	Peer Review	Students are asked to complete an individual homework assignment, paper, or project. On the day the assignment is due, students submit a copy to one or two classmates. Each student then gives constructive feedback (e.g., corrects mistakes in problem-solving, makes suggestions about improving argumentation, etc.)	Drama - After drafting one-act plays, pairs students swap drafts and give each other feedback on their writing. Computer Science - Students swap pseudo code and give each other feedback before implementing the code.
20 min	Morphological Analysis	Students divide a problem into functions or subfunctions that must be performed. Next, students generate ideas for each function (or subfunction) in isolation. Then, students examine the many permutations of solutions by combining ideas from across categories. This approach rapidly produces combinations of ideas that may not arise in open brainstorming or other methods and challenges students to consider options beyond the first feasible design idea generated.	Art: To explore novel approaches and create artwork distinctive to your practice, develop a matrix with various possible canvases (column headers, e.g., paper, wood, clay, glass) and materials (row headers, e.g., ink, pastels, oil paint, organic matter). Discuss pairings within the matrix and their pros and cons. Identify, experiment with, and reflect upon 5 combinations. and engages students in using the matrix to make various pairings of materials and canvases to help them identify new ways to create their artwork. Architecture: Design a portable chair. Use a morphological matrix to ideate on design options. Matrix variables could include environment (workplace, school, outdoor park, museum, transportation depot); material type (wood, plastic, glass, stone, metal, fiber, ceramic, bone, concrete); form (ergonomic, integrative, natural, additive, deconstructed); features or accessories (backrest, armrest, table, lamp, wheels, motor, adjustable/pneumatic, solar power, massage), etc.

Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) tools may be able to support, and even enhance, the implementation of the above strategies, especially at scale in large courses. TEL tools potentially aligned with specific strategies above include, but are not limited to: iClickers, Google Forms, Google Docs, Google Drawings, Online Learning Initiative (OLI). We strongly recommend that you consult an Eberly Center colleague to match the appropriate TEL tool to your specific pedagogical needs and learning objectives.

What are Some Important Considerations When Implementing Active Learning?

Substitute Rather Than Add

Identify areas to replace passive lecture with an active learning strategy, covering the same content but a different teaching method. For example, during a lecture, challenge students to interpret a visual aid (data visualization, code segment, work of art, text passage, etc.) rather than doing it for them. Research suggests that active learning has better learning gains for higher-level concepts, so target those concepts with your strategies (Linton et al., 2014).

If You’re Not Sure, Start Small

Focus on one segment of one class session rather than overhauling your entire lesson plan or course. For example, rather than end class by restating what was covered, consider adding a minute paper that requires students to (briefly) summarize the main points of the lecture. Once you get going, you can keep finding more ways to incorporate active learning; there’s nothing wrong with most of your class time being spent on activities. If you spend all your time on activities, it’s called flipping your classroom!

Align Your Active Learning Activity With a Learning Objective

Alignment ensures that students are practicing relevant and useful knowledge/skills. For example, when discussing a reading in class, consider providing students with focused prompt questions that encourage them to practice skills such as identifying or evaluating an argument.
How to articulate your learning objectives...

Ensure That Students Have Sufficient Background Knowledge/Skills

Without this information, students may not be motivated to complete the active learning activity. For example, if you ask students to evaluate the effectiveness of a particular mathematical model, they first need to know the characteristics of effective models.
How to assess students’ prior knowledge...

Anticipate Some Student Resistance

Students may resist in active or passive forms (e.g., verbal dissent, not participating). Mitigate potential resistance by transparently explaining the purpose of the active learning strategy, circulating throughout the room to engage students, and debriefing the activity to ensure students walk away with the desired learning outcomes (Tharayil et al., 2018).

View Active Learning as an Experiment

Design a strategy, test it out, get feedback and/or reflect on it, and consider how (if at all) to revise it for the future. For example, if you ran out of time while doing a Carousel Brainstorm, consider how you could shorten the activity in the future. If students did not know what to do during a Think-Pair-Share, try giving instructions and prompts on a slide, rather than only verbally.

Where Can I Learn More?

Barrett, M., Hershock, C., McCarthy, M., Melville, M., & Mertz, J. (2021). What Type of Debrief is Best for Learning during Think-Pair-Shares? . Teaching and Learning Inquiry, 9(1), 45–60. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.9.1.5

Bertsch, S., Pesta, B.J., Wiscott, R., & McDaniel, M.A. (2007). The Generation Effect: A Meta-Analytic View. Memory & Cognition 35, no. 2: 201–10. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193441

Carvalho, P. F., Manke, K., & Koedinger, K. (2018, July 25-28). Not all active learning is equal: Predicting and explaining improves transfer relative to answering practice questions. CogSci: The Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Madison, Wisconsin. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/63k2d5fg

Chi, M. T., & Wylie, R. (2014). The ICAP framework: Linking cognitive engagement to active learning outcomes. Educational Psychologist, 49(4), 219–243. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2014.965823

Crouch, C., Fagen, A.P., Callan, J.P., & Mazur, E. (2004). Classroom demonstrations: Learning tools or entertainment? American journal of physics, 72(6), 835-838. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1707018

Eddy, S. L., & Hogan, K. A. (2014). Getting under the hood: How and for whom does increasing course structure work?. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 13(3), 453-468. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.14-03-0050

Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M.K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M.P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410-8415. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111

Linton, D.L., Farmer, J.K., & Peterson, E. (2014). Is peer interaction necessary for optimal active learning?. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 13(2), 243-252. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.13-10-0201

Lovett, M. C., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Ambrose, S. A., & Norman, M. K. (2023). How learning works: Eight research-based principles for smart teaching (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.

Martella, A. M., Swisher, M., & Mayer, R. E. (2024). How much active teaching should be incorporated into college course lectures to promote active learning?. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 79, 102316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2024.102316

Nehm, R. H., Finch, S. J., & Sbeglia, G. C. (2022). Is active learning enough? The contributions of misconception-focused instruction and active-learning dosage on student learning of evolution. BioScience, 72(11), 1105-1117. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biac073

Prince, M. (2004). Does active learning work? A review of the research. Journal of engineering education, 93(3), 223-231. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2004.tb00809.x

Ruhl, K. L., Hughes, C. A., Schloss, P. J. (1987). Using the pause procedure to enhance lecture recall. Teacher Education and Special Education. 10(1), 14-18. https://doi.org/10.1177/088840648701000103

Smith, M.K., Wood, W.B., Adams, W.K., Wieman, C., Knight, J K., Guild, N., & Su, T.T. (2009). Why peer discussion improves student performance on in-class concept questions. Science, 323(5910), 122-124. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1165919

Tharayil, S., Borrego, M., Nguyen, K., Shekhar, P., Finelli, C., & Waters, C. (2018). Strategies to mitigate student resistance to active learning. International Journal of STEM Education 5(7): 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-018-0102-y

Theobald, E.J., Hill, M.J., Tran, E., Agrawal, S., Arroyo, E.N., Behling, S., Chambwe, N., Laboy Cintrón, D., Cooper, J., Dunster, G., Grummer, J.A., Hennessey, K., Hsiao, J., Iranon, J., Jones II, L., Jordt, H., Keller, M., Lacey, M.E., Littlefield, C.E., Lowe, A., Newman, S., Okolo, V., Olroyd, S., Peecook, B.R., Pickett, S.B., Slager, D.L., Caviedes-Solis, I.W., Stanchak, K.E., Sundaravardan, V., Valdebenito, C., Williams, C.R., Zinsli, K., & Freeman, S. (2020). Active learning narrows achievement gaps for underrepresented students in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(12), 6476-6483. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1916903117

Eberly Center
4765 Forbes Avenue
Tepper Quad, Suite 1310
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
(412) 268-2896
Contact Us

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation

Active Learning Strategies

What is it?

Why Does it Work?

What is the Evidence That it Works?

How Can I Use it in My Class?

Name

Description

Examples