"The Threshold of Democracy: Athens in 403 B.C." at Queens College, CUNY in Fall 2012

Role-play

August 20, 2019 0

What is it? Role-play is experiential learning based on perspective-taking within a scenario. Participants inform themselves about the viewpoint of an interest group or character and then perform that role according to a set of […]

Six thinking hats

May 17, 2019 Jayne Pearson 0

What is it? The thinking hats activity originates from Edward De Bono’s (1985) Six Thinking Hats book about the process of lateral and creative thinking. It is largely associated with Business Management, but can be […]

Pinwheel discussions

May 16, 2019 Jayne Pearson 0

What is it? Pinwheel discussions are often used to consider and discuss a topic from different perspectives and points of view. They can be used when there is an particular topic or controversial question to […]

Hand holding phone displaying Polleverywhere response system

Tests and polls

May 6, 2019 0

What is it? Tests, sometimes known as Quizzes, are usually no-stakes or low stakes opportunities for learning (i.e. students work with knowledge as well as recalling what they already know) which can take place within […]

Jigsaw activity diagram from https://itali.uq.edu.au/files/3077/Resources-teaching-methods-jigsawtechnique.pdf

Jigsaw activity

May 5, 2019 0

What is it? Each student within a ‘home group’ focuses on a separate segment of a given concept or unit of learning. They convene into temporary ‘expert groups’ to develop their ideas before returning to […]

Image from Cooper Professional Education at https://blogs.kcl.ac.uk/aflkings/students-directing-their-own-learning/concept-mapping/

Concept maps

May 4, 2019 0

Students visually represent a concept in terms of its attributes and their connections, using pen and paper, software, or (in groups) post-its and string. Concept maps have similarities with some of the physical structures that […]

Stopwatch by Casey Marshall on Flickr

Minute paper

May 4, 2019 1

The minute paper, usually associated with physics professor Charles Schwartz, is a simple assessment form which elicits students’ knowledge about a topic or concept, or the contents of a lecture. It fosters deeper learning because […]

Continuum Cast by themarina

Barometer walk

May 1, 2019 0

What is it? This activity is useful for exploring multiple perspectives – these could be values, approaches to solving a problem, or certainty about a given phenomenon. The educator poses a statement or question they […]

Think-Pair-Share

May 1, 2019 0

What is it? Think-Pair-Share is a cooperative learning approach where the whole group is given a single question or prompt to discuss. Students consider the question individually for a few minutes before forming pairs to […]