Module 3: Active Teaching and Learning

Introduction and Intended Outcome:

Module Overview


Watch this video showing how a physics class combines new concepts with activities to test those concepts.

Video: Active Teaching and Learning (4:16)

Think About

How does this teacher use the opening (exploratory) activity to engage students in the learning experience? How does the opening activity relate to the objective of the lab students will perform?

Now take a moment to reflect on your own experience.


Identify one specific learning activity in which you personally got deeply engaged. What did the teacher do to create this situation?

What is your teaching style? Do you feel it is your responsibility to define what students learn and how they learn it? Is lecturing a significant part of how you teach? Do students work on course projects alone with little supervision from you?

Write down your thoughts and then take the teaching styles inventory at CTL/tstyle/tstyles3_instructions.html. It requires less than 15 minutes and will help you reflect on different approaches in the classroom. If you are new to teaching, it will give you a way to think about the roles a teacher can fulfill. Did anything about your profile surprise you?