Active Learning

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Active learning

Introductory and Applied Practicals

Provide more than one practical on a topic - an introductory 'this is how it works', and a second 'applied' version.

Relevance of Practicals

Choose practicals that align closely with important topics. For Example, three ways of experimentally determining a rate law - all three ways should be used in the lab.

Pre-Lab Activities

Carefully structure the pre-lab flow chart and pre-lab presentation to carefully explain all the key concepts involved.

Predict-Observe-Explain

Provide students with learning experiences via predict-observe-explain.

GroupMap

Do a discussion and use GroupMap to get a consensus.

Link to GroupMap

Student Questions

It’s very difficult to get students to ask questions because they feel they’re being picked on. But if they start putting up their hand and other students see that you’re prepared to be receptive to that then more and more will start putting up their hands. Invariably they’re good questions which still cover the topic. So you should have enough content for your lectures but not so much that you’ve got to force it to finish. The question that they ask, which they’re worried is a dumb question, is actually the question that probably nearly everyone else wants to ask but is afraid to ask.

Small Group Work

Use small group student-centred interaction using structured work sheets that logically develop students' conceptual understanding. It’s a learning cycle approach.

Clickers

Using clickers, put up say four ideas, and say, who thinks A and who thinks B, C, D. Now in the groups they need to defend their answer, and to talk about it. That way you get the feedback but you don’t have to say Bill, Mary, Jim, Jack, what do you think? You can get them to click their answers.

Link to Peer Instruction Blog

Lab Workshops

Incorporate a workshop into the lab program, where the students basically do geometry and they use these models.

Compressibility Demonstration

You can get the students to physically feel that liquids are not compressible by giving them three closed syringes: one contains water, say 50 mL, that’s been put in the freezer to become ice; another syringe contains 50 mL of liquid water, and the other one is gas. Ask them to push the syringes and see what happens. They find they cannot push the syringes containing liquid or solid, even though they think there would be some space in the liquid one. The misconception is that liquids fall somewhere between solid and gas and so should be “a bit” compressible.

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