Monitoring the Benefits of Active Learning Exercises in Introductory Survey Courses in Science: an Attempt to Improve the education of Prospective Public School Teachers
Introduction of collaborative, active-learning exercises in a traditional lecture-based Environmental Geology course produced measurable changes in student learning. Oral surveys used as part of an assessment strategy suggest that students in the class use material from the exercises in responding to questions long after the subjects were covered in class. In addition, the variance of the grade distribution of the final examination suggests that learning is more uniform across the class than in previous semesters. Implementation of this approach is not limited to small classes; a single instructor can monitor a class of approximately 60 students as they work through the exercise.