The University of Minnesota, Center for Educational Innovation
Active Learning Spaces by
With the paradigm shift to student-centered learning, the physical teaching space is being examined The configuration of classrooms, the technology within them, and the behaviors they encourage are frequently represented as a barrier to enacting student-centered teaching methods, because traditionally designed rooms typically lack flexibility in seating arrangement, are configured to privilege a speaker at the front of the room, and lack technology to facilitate student collaboration. But many colleges and universities are redesigning the spaces in which students learn, collapsing traditional lecture halls and labs to create new, hybrid spaces--large technology-enriched studios--with the flexibility to support active and collaborative learning in larger class sizes. With this change, our classrooms are coming to embody the 21st-century pedagogy which many educators accept, and research and teaching practice are beginning to help us to understand the educational implications of thoughtfully engineered classrooms--in particular, that space and how we use it affects what, how, and how much students learn. This is the 137th volume of this Jossey-Bass higher education series. It offers a comprehensive range of ideas and techniques for improving college teaching based on the experience of seasoned instructors and the latest findings of educational and psychological researchers.
Inspiring Active Learning: a complete handbook for today's teachers by 
Get Active : Reimagining Learning Spaces for Student Success by
Active learning spaces offer students opportunities to engage, collaborate, and learn in an environment that taps into their innate curiosity and creativity. Students well versed in active learning - the capabilities that colleges, vocational schools and the workforce demand - will be far more successful than those educated in traditional classrooms. Get Active is a practical guide to inform your thinking about how best to design schools and classrooms to support learning in a connected, digital world. From classroom redesigns to schoolwide rennovation projects and new building construction, the authors show the many ways that active learning spaces can improve the learning experience.
Total Participation Techniques : Making Every Student an Active Learner by
Total Participation Techniques presents dozens of ways to engage K 12 students in active learning and allow them to demonstrate the depth of their knowledge and understanding.
Maker-Centered Learning : Empowering Young People to Shape Their Worlds by
The Agency by Design guide to implementing maker-centered teaching and learning Maker-Centered Learning provides both a theoretical framework and practical resources for the educators, curriculum developers, librarians, administrators, and parents navigating this burgeoning field. Written by the expert team from the Agency by Design initiative at Harvard's Project Zero, this book Identifies a set of educational practices and ideas that define maker-centered learning, and introduces the focal concepts of maker empowerment and sensitivity to design. Shares cutting edge research that provides evidence of the benefits of maker-centered learning for students and education as a whole. Presents a clear Project Zero-based framework for maker-centered teaching and learning Includes valuable educator resources that can be applied in a variety of design and maker-centered learning environments Describes unique thinking routines that foster the primary maker capacities of looking closely, exploring complexity, and finding opportunity. A surge of voices from government, industry, and education have argued that, in order to equip the next generation for life and work in the decades ahead, it is vital to support maker-centered learning in various educational environments. Maker-Centered Learning provides insight into what that means, and offers tools and knowledge that can be applied anywhere that learning takes place.
Educating Young Children: active learning practices for preschool and child care programs by
The updated chapters include information on phonemic awareness and preschool reading, additional references, the latest Perry Preschool research results, recent research relating to brain development, and a complete description of a consistent approach to problem solving. Written for early childhood practitioners and students, this manual presents essential strategies adults can use to make active learning a reality in their programs. Describes key components of the adult ‚'s role: planning the physical setting and establishing a consistent daily routi≠ creating a positive social climate; and using High/Scope ‚'s 58 ‚"key experiences ‚" in child development to understand and support young children. Other topics include family involvement, daily team planning, interest areas, appropriate materials, the plan-do-review process, small- and large-group times. Offers numerous anecdotes, photographs, illustrations, real-life scenarios, and practical suggestions for adults. Reflects High/Scope ‚'s current research findings and over 30 years of experience.
A Miniature Guide for Those Who Teach on Practical Ways to Promote Active and Cooperative Learning by
Although bringing critical thinking into the classroom ultimately requires serious, long-term development, you don't need to sweat and slave and thoroughly understand critical thinking to begin to make important changes in your teaching. Many simple, straightforward, yet powerful strategies can be implemented immediately. In this guide we offer a sampling of such suggestions. They are powerful and useful, because each is a way to get students actively engaged in thinking about what they are trying to learn. Each represents a shift of responsibility for learning from the teacher to the student. These strategies suggest ways to get your students to do the hard work of learning. Many enable you to take advantage of what students already know and what they are able to figure out for themselves. Many involve students working together. All too often students get stuck, or don't understand what they are supposed to do. Several students working together can correct each other's misunderstandings and can make much more progress on tasks. When one student gets stuck, another might have just the right idea to move things along. This enables students to become responsible for more of their own learning. Over time, they begin to adopt the strategies they see their peers use successfully and learn to ask themselves critical questions raised by their peers. Another advantage of the following suggestions is their wide applicability. Most can be fruitfully applied to any subject, any topic. Most can become standard practice - techniques you continually use. For some of these strategies, we provide examples geared to different content they might be used to teach. At the heart of our approach is a realistic conception of what it takes for someone to learn something. In a sense, much instruction is unrealistic: "If I say it clearly, they should get it. If they give the right answer, they know it and understand it. If I show them what to do, ask them to
Balanced literacy : through cooperative learning & active engagement by
A complete third year literacy resource; brimming with activities, lessons, resources and blacklines; 84 ready-to-use blackline masters
The Active Classroom : practical strategies for involving students in the learning process by
If the classroom experience is to result in deeper understanding and new knowledge, then students must become active participants in the learning process. This resource shows how to do just that. With new chapters on writing and the first two weeks of school, information on the CCSS and structuring the classroom environment, this book offers brain-based teaching strategies for: Establishing rapport and building relationships between students and teachers Engaging students′ active participation in the learning process Creating interactive learning environments that include all learning modalities Improving your presentation and process facilitation skills
Extreme Curriculum Makeover: a hands-on guide for a learner-centered pedagogy by
At a time where the tipping point for education seems to be a perpetually delayed expectation, despite widespread consensus and shared awareness to reform school practice for a completely new paradigm, change can actually be initiated in the real life school setting, by means of strategic curriculum interventions that target exposing students directly to the principles of the school of the future. Extreme Curriculum Makeover: A Hands-On Guide for a Learner-Centered Pedagogy explores how to develop a learner-centered pedagogy through specific strategies that can be implemented in any classroom, at any grade level, and that can transform the traditional learning environment into one where the students themselves acquire the tools, the skills, and, more importantly, the motivation to become lifelong learners.