Why Use Active Learning?
The basic answer is that it helps students to do better in History. They improve their level of knowledge and their understanding of the processes of doing History. Of course, that’s not automatic. It requires a great deal of planning and skill on the part of the teacher – that’s why teachers are crucial and can’t be replaced by computers despite what some politicians think. And yes, students will enjoy their History more too which is important. If you enjoy something you usually do it better.
I’ve kept this brief and pragmatic as I’m not terribly good at theory. I’ve tended to build theory out of practice – seeing what works and what doesn’t.
Learning Styles
People learn in different ways – some learn most effectively by listening and taking notes, others learn more effectively by doing, some prefer reading words, others take in ideas and information better if it is presented diagrammatically. Some research suggests that around 40% of students in an average class are kinaesthetic learners – the 'do-ers and movers', the ones who start fidgeting if trapped behind their desks for too long. From that point of view, structured movement may prevent such students erupting with frustration and so help class discipline rather than put it at risk.
It’s also worth thinking about how we improve at other activities – is there anything to copy from the fact that we learn a cricket stroke or tennis shot by being coached while doing it? It’s said we remember 20% of what we hear and 80% of what we experience (and 90% of what we teach) – that must guide us in the kinds of things we ask students to do.
And we all benefit from taking part in a variety of activities. Variety keeps our levels of interest and concentration high. We don’t lapse into ‘it’ll just be more of the same’ thinking and nod off. So the activities on the site may help everyone by providing that variety.
One thing I am convinced of, after several decades of experience, is that 40 or 50 minute lectures are, in general, the least effective of all teaching methods – and that includes at A level and university, especially when used to introduce a topic. By all means talk for 5 or maybe 10 minutes but intersperse talking with questions, short activities, what would you have done if … and all kinds of other activities designed to keep students on the ball.
Enhanced understanding – target learning problems
At the top I said that activities help students get better at History? This happens, not just because of higher concentration levels and greater enjoyment but because the key to constructing and using these activities successfully is building them around the learning problems that students have with a topic. Activities should be structured to focus on one or more of a wide variety of objectives such as:
- developing knowledge of a sequence of events
- understanding contemporary attitudes and motives
- developing explanations or analysing patterns of change and continuity
- challenging misconceptions about past events and thinking
- analysing why historians have differing interpretations of an event or person
There’s plenty more – and the key is not just to construct an activity on ‘The Civil War’ but on what problems students have in learning about and understanding the Civil War. Each activity in the Resources section begins by identifying its objectives and relating them to the learning problems that students have. The activities are therefore not bolted-on extras or end of term treats. They are serious learning activities – but that doesn’t mean they can’t be fun as well.
This diagram shows how activities bring together all the components of teaching and learning. [ Click to see the full diagram ] When we begin as teachers we tend to focus on just a couple of the balls – our own knowledge (for fear of getting something wrong) and class management (for fear of lots of things!). Quickly we realise that we need to focus on the historical process as well – teaching students how to use sources etc etc. But that’s all looking at teaching – what we do – and it’s vital to ask ‘how do students learn?’ – hence the last two balls which usually take a bit of experience to get to grips with. We have to focus on how students learn and why they struggle with individual activities and topics because that’s what brings learning and teaching together – and that’s when we become much more effective in helping students learn.
Do You Remember When ...?
When thinking about teaching it’s not enough just to think about what students will take away from an individual lesson but what they will take away from a year or a whole course such as Key Stage 3. How do all those lessons build together to create a framework of knowledge and understanding? One of the critical advantages of many active learning activities is that they make an impact on students’ consciousness – either because it’s simply been a particularly unusual and enjoyable lesson – and therefore memorable – or because, as a result of being placed ‘inside’ a past situation and having to think in the role of a historical person they’ve discovered that they care about that person or event. It’s very hard to say ‘Do you remember when we did page 43 sources A, B and C last year?’ but ‘Do you remember when we used the hairdryer to stop William invading England?’ – what did we learn about sources then?’ is much more likely to trigger responses. And that ‘Do you remember when …?’ question is critical for turning a sequence of individual lessons into a course and why this kind of activity is vital to achieve the aim of the new KS3 programme of Study, following strands such as conflict across Key Stage 3.
Better Written Work
The development of constructive talk in these activities supports the arguments advanced by Ian Luff and Rachel Rudham in Teaching History that listening and speaking play a vital role in stimulating thinking, turning half-formed ideas into clear arguments and promoting more effective writing. Rudham writes tellingly of pupils previously 'going through the motions of completing a piece of written work without real thought' but then, motivated by carefully structured listening and speaking activities, achieving a depth of thinking that 'greatly enhanced the standard'.
Other reasons why activities can enhance written work is that involvement and identification with roles increase students’ ability to remember information and situations and leads them to care more about the issues. Having been involved in thinking 'from the inside' of a situation, students feel that the topic matters and want to do justice to it on paper. As Geoff Lyons has written, 'Arousing pupils' emotions .. is deliberately intended to help them understand that the topic matters'.
More Effective Reading
This perhaps particularly applies to Advanced level but here years of experience of using these activities with older students have convinced me that they are an essential aid to improving reading, rather than a luxury that can be jettisoned for fear of wasting time. In an activity such as a structured role-play where they 'walk through' events and 'think from the inside' they are much more able get to grips with the overview of events, detail and complexities. The activity, requiring oral contributions and thinking, boosts students’ confidence and enables them to go on to read and make notes more efficiently. The page is no longer an obstacle course full of completely unfamiliar material. Using activities as introductions therefore enables students of all abilities (although most visibly with weaker students) to overcome initial obstacles in reading that they often bounce off. Far from wasting time, the approach saves time in the long-run, because it enables students to work more effectively on their own.
Undefinables
Some activities reach the parts that more objective and traditional activities can’t reach. For example, they can help students understand the undefinable and often un-evidenced elements that play a part in decision making. Why did so many people join the revolt of 1381? Only a role-play is likely to help pupils understand the fear of being left behind alone in the village, the moral pressure to join in with your mates, the adventure of going up to London - all reasons which must have played their part in 1381, just as in 1914 and on other occasions when people made individual choices in the midst of group action. This helps understand not only the event itself but can also contribute to wider understanding of motivation and causation – one of those ‘Do you remember when we did …’ moments.
What do YOU get out of it?
Excitement, a sense of real achievement as a teacher, more students opting for your courses, the delight of getting a great response from students, parents at parents’ evenings and even degree ceremonies saying ‘I wish I’d been taught history like this’, jealous colleagues, the satisfaction of taking a risk that comes off, better results.
To rephrase Terry Pratchett, it’s the most fun you can have in front of 28 (or even 280) other people.
Who are the lessons for?
This might sound an odd point because lessons are very obviously meant to benefit the students but I’ve been told a fair few times by teachers that they can’t use active learning because it’s not their style of teaching, that they don’t feel comfortable with it. That response suggests that the teacher is not prepared to stretch his or her comfort zone in order to meet the learning needs of his or her students. It’s very easy to settle into a style of teaching over the years, perhaps particularly with older students at A level. Many generally successful teachers at A level are generally successful because they develop an excellent relationship with students, lessons pass enjoyably if an unvarying style and most people get good grades. But the key words in the previous sentence are ‘generally successful’ – what about the students who would benefit from a different approach to learning and don’t learn most effectively from listening and taking notes? They may well be able to get the As and Bs that other students get – if they are taught in a way that meets their needs rather than fitting into the teacher’s comfort zone. This may sound a harsh criticism of some teaching but I think it’s difficult to argue with the view that the success of students should come before the comfort zone of teachers – in which case it’s the teacher’s comfort zone that needs stretching, gently and carefully at first but it’s amazing what teachers can do and ENJOY when they step outside those comfort zones.
This Page
What's in this Section?
Using the activities – key points
Teaching Issues - chronology & more
Time travelling again?