A few years ago, I shared specific active learning strategies that special librarians could use in their instruction sessions to foster learner engagement. I want to revisit active learning in this post because, while a great deal of instruction is occurring virtually, I feel there has been a bit of a swing back to in-person instruction.
If you are new to leading in-person instruction sessions or want to add new engagement strategies, I encourage you to consider the following two strategies:
Think/Pair/Share
Think/Pair/Share is a simple, active learning strategy that allows for structured discussion. It encourages everyone to participate by having learners process ideas individually, collaborate in small groups, and then contribute to the larger group.
How It Works
- Think
In class, the instructor wants students to think about and discuss a topic. Therefore, they start by asking learners questions. Learners spend a minute or two reflecting silently and writing their thoughts.
- Pair
Then, the instructor asks learners to share their thoughts with a partner or a small group of peers sitting around them.
- Share
The instructor asks if anyone would like to share with the entire class what was discussed in their pairs or small groups.
Why It Works
Think/pair/share allows learners time to process their ideas and then share them in a low-stakes conversation with a partner or in a small group. Ideas can be refined with feedback from peers. Then, learners are given the opportunity to share their ideas with the entire class, which allows multiple voices to be heard and for the instructor to get an idea of what was discussed to be able to provide additional instruction.
Example
For example, if you’re training users on your library’s integrated library system (ILS), you might ask learners to think about how they would search for a specific resource, pair up to compare their search strategies, and then share their approaches with the group.
Making Predictions
Asking learners to make predictions about an answer or what they think will happen next when you are walking them through a situation.
How It Works
Adding prediction into your teaching practice can be as simple as asking learners to share what they expect to happen next or what they think a factual answer will be.
Prediction can also be added by engaging in the Predict-Observe-Explain framework that is often used in science education (Liew & Treagust, 1998).
Predict–have learners guess what will happen and explain their reasoning
Observe–learners watch, listen, read, etc. to find out if their prediction was correct
Explain–learners must explain why they were correct or incorrect with their prediction
Why It Works
The act of predicting leads to surprises when they learn something unexpected. In other words, predicting boosts surprise about unexpected answers, which leads to enhanced attention to the correct answer and strengthens encoding (Brod, 2021).
Example
For example, before running a search in your library automation system, ask learners to predict how many results they’ll get or what types of resources will appear. After observing the actual results in the ILS, learners can explain why their predictions were right or wrong, deepening their understanding of how the system organizes and retrieves information.
Conclusion
Think/pair/share and making predictions (Predict-Observe-Explain) are two active learning strategies that are relatively simple to include in instruction sessions. I encourage you to research other types of active learning and find what will fit best in your context.
References
Brod, G. (2021). Predicting as a learning strategy. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 28(6), 1839-1847.
Liew, C. W., & Treagust, D. F. (1998). The effectiveness of predict-observe-explain tasks in diagnosing students’ understanding of science and in identifying their levels of achievement.
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