Breaking the Ice with Active Learning

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Learning is not a spectator sport. 

"Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write reflectively about it, relate to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves."

Arthur W. Chickering and Stephen C. Erhmann were not the first researchers to advocate for active learning, but the words from their 1996 AAHE (American Association for Higher Education) Bulletin article "Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as a Lever" (available here) have loomed large in discussions of the strategy. Breaking down this statement can help us analyze what active learning is, why it is useful, and look into how it can be applied in today's classrooms.

Students do not learn much just sitting in classes listening to teachers.

Learning about active learning necessitates understanding how it contrasts to the idea of passive learning. The lecture model, where a teacher verbally conveys knowledge to a listening audience, has a significant history linked here in the development of modern education. Some of this comes from this theory that human minds are blank slates; sometimes this is also described in educational terms as students being vessels into which knowledge needs to be poured. This knowledge might come from an instructor or a text, but it must be directly given to pupils for learning to occur.

They must talk about what they are learning, write reflectively about it, relate to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives.

Active learning rejects the idea that simply having access to information creates ideal learning circumstances; instead students must be actively engaged with lessons in one or more ways for true learning to be achieved. Engagement might come in the form of discussion of materials, creating and consuming visual models, participating in hands-on demonstrations of concepts. In addition to doing things, in active learning it is key that students are thinking about what they are doing.
Active learnings is distinguished by being less about facts and more about concepts, teaching students how to learn rather than simply what to learn. Active learning also dovetails with multimodal learning (using different methods and delivery systems to introduce content) and collaborative learning (students working together on learning and sharing their insights with each other).

If you'd like to work on expanding your understanding of active learning the Illinois Open Publishing Network has you covered here. 
More of an audio/visual fan? This video from the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences is a great overview.

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They must make what they learn part of themselves.

If a key part of active learning is being able to think about how to apply your acquired knowledge to real life circumstance, we must look at applying active learning strategies in the classroom. Earlier active learning research like Chickering and Erhmann's looked at applying active learning strategies at the university level, but the beauty of active learning is that there are myriad ways it can be incorporated for all ages. This extensive list features over 250 suggestions of active learning techniques for in-person and distance learning environments. We are going to take a look at just one of these suggestions and the many ways it can be implemented now.

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So... An Ice Breaker?

Many active learning strategies in the classroom are going to require collaboration and connection between classmates. That is why quality, active learning-based ice breakers are a great way to warm up a class. Research like this study demonstrates the positive effects of wisely selected ice breaker activities, promoting student engagement and motivation.

Ice breakers are games, conversations, or activities designed to introduce people to each other. The varieties we are going to look at today are the Human Scavenger Hunt and Human Bingo. Human Bingo is featured in the large list above, but also has a place on the more easily digestible list found here. For a specific experience with the activity check out this link.

I'm pairing these activities together because they both operate on the same principle: students tasked with finding classmates who fit into certain categories, for examples "someone who has a pet" or "someone who shares your favorite color". In the scavenger hunt variety of this activity, students are trying to find different peers for each of their categories. In the Bingo variety, students are specifically trying to complete categories that will get them a certain number of answers in a straight line, earning them a "Bingo!" 

Already we have two very different pacing examples of the same base game- one is more thorough and leisurely and another adds a layer of gamification. After the search concludes, some classes might revisit especially challenging or exciting categories or choose to have the Bingo winners present their winning line by introducing the people who helped them complete it. Additionally the categories can shift the tone of this exercise- light, breezy questions make for a great casual ice breaker but the activity could just as easily ask students to find different reactions to classroom material, exploring the diversity of opinion in an environment. But all forms of this activity get students talking to (or reading about) each other and making connections.

My Experience with Human Scavenger Hunts and Bingo

In proper active learning style, this activity is something I have directly connected to my life. I have actually been on both sides of a human scavenger hunt, as a student and as a teacher preparing one for my students.

My original secondary education was in person and the switch to online learning for graduate coursework sometimes make it difficult to feel connected, even though my courses really require me to be motivated and engaged. Perhaps my professor read this article about the importance of ice breaker in online courses before assigning us a human scavenger hunt. The first week of class often sees students being asked to post a short bio introducing themselves to their classmates. Without connecting names to faces, it can be difficult to retain anything from a quick read of these posts, but having to fill out the scavenger hunt helped build my understanding of the diversity of my classmates as well as seeing some things we had it common. It's not a panacea for the disconnect learners may feel online, but it is one way of making students actively learn about who they will be studying with over the internet.

I have also prepared a human scavenger hunt for the past two years for my first grade class. Instead of using it as an initial icebreaker, my co-teacher and I hand it out after our winter break to reacclimate our students to the classroom and each other. It is themed after finding classmates who did different activities over the break and helps us structure back-to-school conversations, which can be especially helpful in a school where a chunk of students take long, expensive vacations over any break and another segment markedly do not. It always gets the students up and moving, greeting every member of the class community and reestablishing the environment we try to promote in our space. After learning about the Bingo variety, I am also going to look for a way to integrate it into our plans some time this year. This site is what I'm going to use for that. Let me know if you'd give it a try!

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