Active learning involves hands-on, collaborative, and experiential activities. Examples of this includes editing a Wikipedia page, Group projects, learning a skill by doing it and working in the field. Passive learning involves receiving information without actively engaging with it, examples being reading a textbook, listening to a podcast or discussing with peers. You are not just limited to these two types of learning. You can actually be a mix of the two, and may learn best by watching a lecture, watching a video, and reflecting on blog posts, maybe a personal connection, in fact I would say although I am more closely aligned to an active learner I do pocess qualities of both. Throughout this class I have found a healthy balance of active and passive learning, which has been extremely beneficial for me. Personally I am an active learner. Due to learning disabilities I face I have a really difficult time reading, or sometimes just listening. Fortunately, this class has provided opportunities for both types of learners, making it incredibly accommodating. As well as I am lucky to have had such amazing professors who have created an inclusive learning environment that caters to different learning styles. While this year has had a really positive impoact for me, highschool and first year university werent as accomadating . For instance, in a Political Science class I took last semester, the focus was heavily on reading. Given my difficulties with reading, it was a major obstacle for me. However i was able to stay engaged through the content whic h was not only relevant but super interesting.

As an active learner, I typically gravutate towards more engaging applications, Specificlly, videos, games, and social media. These applications are all super useful and interesting to me which helps me learn. In week nine we talked about the importance of storytelling in learning, I was reminded of the impact that engaging content can have on my ability to stay focused and engaged. I sometimes have difficulites paying attention, whuch means it’s super important to keep me engaged. I believe that incorporating media or multimedia elements into the learning environment is an effective way to promote active learning and enhance student engagement. Incorporating media or multimedia elements into a learning environment can be a powerful way to promote active learning and engagement among students. However, it is important to use these tools strategically and to ensure that they support the learning objectives of the course. When done, I am more likely to stay engaged and motivated, which ultimately leads to a deeper understanding of the material.

In the reading, ‘Students need to do something’ by Jennifer Gonzalez, she argues that active learning is super important in K-12 classrooms and draws from her experiences with passive learning. In her education she expeienced a very passive side of learning and never truely felt engaged. I can resonate to this to some extent, through highschool I constantly felt detached from my schooling, until later years when I took more interesting courses. I was fortunate enough to have grown up in an environment that incorporated active learning. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many students. Planning and executing active learning activities can be mentally demanding, and the lack of resources available in many schools is a major barrier. An example of a way my school did a good job of incorporating active learning was through our grade 7 passion projects. We spent a month working on something we were passionate about and incorportaing our learning into it then had a huge presentation where our parents could come see what we’ve done and we’d teach them. This type of active learning not only engages students but also allows them to develop important skills and knowledge that will stay with them.

Incorporating Bloom’s Taxonomy into learning is an excellent strategy to ensure active learning is present. This is because active learning and higher order thinking are closely related concepts in Bloom’s Taxonomy, which is a framework used to classify different types of learning objectives and cognitive skills.

Bloom’s Taxonomy six categories, from lower-order thinking skills such as remembering and understanding to higher order thinking, which include skills like applying, analysing, evaluating, and producing, as you can see in the graph above. This forces active learning amonst studnets as actuve learning forces critical thinking, problem-solving, and interactional skills which goes hand in hand with higher order thinking.

Because they require students to actively participate in the learning process, collaborate with peers, and apply their knowledge to real-world scenarios, active learning techniques like group discussions, problem-based learning, and project-based learning are particularly effective in fostering higher-order thinking skills. By engaging in these types of activities, students are able to develop a deeper understanding of the material being learned and build the skills needed to think critically, analyze information, and solve complex problems. 

I beleive it’s important to intergrate this type of learning into K-12 schooling as it in turn is more benefical to their future. It also helps studnets find their passion and enjoy their learning.

As someone who does this all the time but never knew it had an actual term scaffolding is a great tool to succeed in education. Scaffolding is a technique used in education to support students in developing their knowledge and skills by breaking down complex tasks into smaller, more manageable steps. Scaffolding can be a useful strategy when creating learning experiences that include active learning to further aid students in developing their comprehension and engaging with the subject matter more successfully.

By incorporating scaffolding into learning design that incorporates active learning, educators can help students develop their knowledge and skills more effectively, while also fostering a deeper understanding of the material and promoting critical thinking skills. I have experienced scaffolding in my grade 11 & 12 math classes. Because I was a student who required excess support I believe this is why my teacher used this method so often with me. I remember I had a lot of difficulties with Logarithms.

Step 1: Applied prior knowledge

The first step of scaffolding is to create goals and recognize your past learning experiences. My teacher began by explaining to me the similarities to my pre-calc 11 class, alothough logs were not talked about in these classes, they were related to topics we had looked at. She would relate back to these lessons and expand on them in rekation to logs.

Step 2: Demonstration and Explanation, dividing into managble chunks

She then divided up my work into smaller tasks. She asked me to write out all of my steps and thinking so I could refer back to my work. My teacher would demonstrated how to do a simple logarithm and then would explain a new concept that was new. I would spend the rest of the class practicing examples and refrencing the textbook.

Step 3: Direction and support

Additonally, because I was an active learner I needed a bit more help. She would sometmes sit with me and guide all of mky steps, questioning why I did certain things, not because I was wrong, but so I could understand why I was doing this. Once she showed me she assigned me homework to take home and left her email if I had any questions.

Step 4: Review and Reinforcement

Once the logarithum unit was over she worked with me to review my work, reflect and expalin what Ive learned This was extreamlty beneficial before the test as it gave me an idea of what I needed to work on. Lastly, she also would help me transition into the next unit and expalin the relevance.

In this example, my teacher used scaffolding to gradually introduce a new math concept to me that I was having a really hard time understanding, this relates well with meriells first principal, except it was used in person. Alternatively, of she ran an online class the technique she used on me by showing an example and disecting the work would of been solid. My teacher started with simple problems and helped relate to the old material to activate prior knowledge, then demonstrated and explained the new concept, guided me through practice problems, provided independent practice opportunities, and concluded with a review and reinforcement. By breaking down the new concept into smaller, more manageable steps, my teacher scaffolded the learning experience and made it more accessible and meaningful for the students.

H5P

Lastly, I enjoyed looking at H5P. H5P is a website where you can create interactive content such as quizzes, presentations, games, and videos. Using this tool you can make engaging content that can be used for teaching and learning purposes. IO also think it is cool that this is a non-profit website hosted and supported by eCampusOntario. I think this can bring multimedia learning to a new level. I myself love learning through practising, and it really helps me. If teachers integrated this into their learning I would 100% use it.

Anderson, L.W., & Krathwohl, D.R. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. Longman.

Gonzalez, J. (2020, June 11). Do Something. Cult of Pedagogy. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/do-something/