Active Learning in the Classroom: Yes, You Can!

After coming back from a lengthy (one-month) training on how to be an academic, I am eager to put my new-found knowledge to good use.

Today (13 Sept 2019), I had a 3-hour session with my students. It started at 9 am and finished around 12 noon.

In today’s session, I had to introduce a new topic on chemical bonding. The chapter looks seemingly simple since it’s a refresher of what the students have learned from their O-Levels. However, students generally make mistakes in a number of areas, particularly in drawing Lewis structures, and explaining how compounds are formed — and I am not going to let that happen to my students!

This is how I conducted my lesson:

Part 1: Break the session into blocks

It was impossible to use the 3-hour block completely by teaching. My students are Gen Zs; they have a mind of their own, and very short attention span. Additionally, a long stretch of teaching wears me out too.

I decided to break my teaching into three 50-minute blocks, with a 10-minute break in between.

Part 2: Plan and implement activity for each block

The next thing to do was to plan what to do for each of the 50-minute block.

Block 1 (the first 50-minute block)

In the first block, I got the students to recall their prior knowledge of chemical bonding. I tried the “mind dump” approach:

• Students were asked to write points that they could recall about the topic on post-it notes
• Once they are done, they need to paste the post-it notes on a whiteboard
• Next, the students need to sort the post-it notes into logical categories. Post-it notes that describe similar concepts were grouped together. If they did not understand points written on the post-it notes, they need to identify the writer, request for clarification, then re-group the post-it notes
• Once the post-it notes were sorted, I worked with the students to draw a concept map on the topic

This was what happened at the end of the “mind dump” activity:

Students immediately see the similarities that they share with one another through this exercise.

Students saw that they were on the same page, in terms of the terms recalled, how they explained specific concepts, and where their weakest links are. They were also able to link concepts that looked disconnected together. Based on the student’s feedback, they need more help in explaining intermolecular forces, such as the dipole-dipole attraction, and the London dispersion forces.

The covalent bond “king” drawn by one of the students. How cute is that? :)

I ended the first block with a debriefing on the activity, by telling them that it is important to acknowledge their prior knowledge on the subject, before building new knowledge on them.

Block 2 (the second 50-minute block)

In the second block, I got the students to work on two activities.

For the first activity, I tried the “think-pair-share” approach:

• I gave each student cards that contain names of ionic and covalent compounds

All it takes is some coloured papers, and a marker…

• They had to sort the cards into two categories: ionic compounds, and covalent compounds
• Once they had completed sorting, they had to come together as a group, and discuss on their friends' work

It was an interesting 25-minute discussion, debates, and “aha” moments. Through this exercise, the students realised that there were several common characteristics that they use to classify the compounds. They also realised that there are several compounds that they had doubts in categorising, such as the halides (e.g. HCl, and HI), as well as compounds that defy exceptions of the Octet rule (e.g. BeCl2). They had fun helping their friends in the “dark side”, or those who were uncertain of a compound’s classification.

The students’ handiwork at the end of the activity. The three molecules at far right of the picture were the problematic molecules identified by the students.

The second activity was group-based, ending in a “gallery walk” session. I gave the students two compounds and asked them to describe how each compound is formed. They worked in their groups for about 15 minutes, before they were asked to post their work on the wall, and let their peers read their work.

An ongoing group discussion on one of the questions.

The students experienced first-hand how different their work is, as compared to their friends’. They realised that what seemed to be straightforward and easy for them, in terms of terms used and the sequence of explaining their answers, might not be that apparent to their friends. A lot of their “gallery walk” time was spent on justifying their answers -- with me at the side, along with my trusted red marker, for writing answers and highlighting good attempts made by each team. It was a good time for me to reinforce important points too, by giving them an understanding on how examiners would mark their answer scripts during the final examination.

A sample of group work.

Block 3 (the last 50-minute block)

This is the “let’s take it easy” block for both the students and the instructor.

I gave out handouts for the students to try in class. They work on a selected number of problems on their own for about 15 minutes, before I got them to show their work on the white board afterwards.

The students presenting their work in action.

I came to love these short sessions of whiteboard-takeover by the students. The sessions were self-sustaining, in the sense that the students assume the role of teachers and students simultaneously. Those writing their work in front of the whiteboard would be 'schooled' by those sitting behind if they made a mistake in their solutions.

It’s also amazing how one handout, with approximately 12 questions on drawing Lewis structure of molecules, would take up to the whole 50-minute block! I overestimated my students' speed by giving two handouts to finish in class. That additional handout became their homework for the day, to be discussed in the next class.

I ended my lesson by doing a recap of important points shared throughout the class, and a preview of learning activities to come in the next class.

Part 3: Reflect on the overall lesson

This happened at the end of the class when everyone had trickled out of the classroom. Some of the thoughts that came through the mind as I packed my bag were as follows:

• A few students seemed bored throughout the lesson. This was attributed to their familiarity with the topic, and the level of difficulty for each activity.
• Grouping the students together seemed to be a good idea to continue in future lessons. The grouping worked because students who mastered the topic were able to share their knowledge with those who were re-learning the topic again in my lesson.
• The lesson can be “flipped” in the future, by getting the students to try out individual homework via Blackboard, our learning management system (LMS), prior to the lesson.
• It might be good to squeeze in some time for personal reflection on the topic itself, as well as how I, as the instructor, deliver the lesson.
• “Gallery walk” can be a common fixture in future lessons! The students seemed to love the activity.

When we were trained last month with an assortment of active learning techniques, I didn’t think it would be possible to implement them in the classroom. It takes more time to plan, and to implement the activities, as compared to normal instruction.

However, the students’ participation made up for the extra time used prior to the lesson. I loved seeing them move about, and interact with one another. This gives me the confidence to continue planning additional active learning activities with them in the future.