For 800 years, students have sat facing a professor at a podium as the teacher imparts his or her wisdom via lecture. The “sage on stage” model remains a popular form of teaching in large part because that’s the way most of us were taught. But growing research shows that active learning—in which students sit in small groups and actively discuss and problem solve—is far more effective. As part of the University of Wyoming Science Initiative, the core sciences at UW will undergo a teaching transformation, embracing an active learning approach that will touch the vast majority of UW students.
The Science Initiative is led by task force of alumni and industry leaders and an advisory leadership team made up of UW faculty. “At our first leadership team meeting, one of our core principles was that everything we do is all about student success,” says Greg Brown, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a botany professor who served on both groups as a liaison.
With student success as the guiding principle, embracing active learning makes perfect sense.
“Research shows that when you compare students sitting in a passive classroom where they’re talked to the entire time with students who are seated in an active learning classroom, those students from the passive classroom are 1.5 times more likely to fail the class,” says Mark Lyford, a leadership team member and director of UW’s Life Sciences Program.
“Students are also more likely to come to class,” he continues. “We see that here on campus. You may have 70 percent class attendance, and when you shift to active learning—particularly when students are learning in groups—you go up to 90–95 percent attendance.”
“There are national studies now that show that the No. 1 indicator of graduation is whether or not a student goes to class,” Brown says. “We think the increased attendance will increase retention and graduation rates.” The improved attendance can be attributed to the small group cohort—fellow students you are accountable to and relate to—as well as class being more engaging.
“Because they have a study group, they’re less likely to get discouraged and more likely to complete their assignments,” says Department of Physics and Astronomy Professor Chip Kobulnicky, a leadership team member who teaches a studio-style General Physics I course using active learning principles. “Students are less likely to fail and more likely to complete a college degree. All of these things are about student success. With the Science Initiative, the bottom line is that we want to see student success from the first year on through graduation and into their profession.
“In studio physics, I see improved student performance in terms of a higher pass rate, and student evaluations are higher,” he adds. The positive results from active learning have been well documented via research.
“When you have a class that’s passive, and you do a test at the beginning of the semester and you do the same test at the end of the semester, the students will only fill a quarter of the gap that they came into class with,” says Daniel Dale, head of the Department of Physics and Astronomy and a leadership team member. “If you do active learning, they’ll fill half the gap. That’s a factor of two improvement on what they learn.”
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