Active learning is the process of having students regularly assess their own understanding and skill. This means students are attaining knowledge by participating and contributing. Learning involves the active construction of meaning by the learner. Learners construct meaning from their foundational prior knowledge and the new information they acquire. (Dewey)

Many teaching methods promote active learning in the classroom. These include: 

• collaborative learning
• cooperative learning
• problem-based learning
• discovery-based learning
• inquiry-based learning
• case-based learning
• project-based learning
• exploratory learning 
• experiential learning

You might see everyday classroom examples of this in teachers’ action verbs in their learning objectives or in a kinesthetic activity that has students in a science class figure out what molecules look like in a liquid or gas. Active learning strategies are tied to constructivist and constructionist learning theories in all these cases. The ultimate goal is for students to play a participatory role in—and take ownership of—their own learning.

What does active learning look like?

Active learning in the classroom transforms students’ educational experiences and improves academic outcomes.

In the classroom, active learning techniques require a student’s direct engagement, whether physically or mentally, but ideally both. Consider an analogous scenario: television. Watching TV is often a passive activity, with viewers literally sitting and consuming content silently. Yet some educational television shows like Dora the Explorer are designed to get kids to be active viewers. They move and jump, answer questions, talk, and sing with the characters on the screen. This is what makes these shows effective: viewers are doing more than just watching–they’re active.

How can we encourage students to be enthusiastic and actively engaged learners in our classrooms? This is the ever-present challenge for educators! With tech tools like Nearpod, teachers can add interactivity to their instruction, spark collaboration, and engage students mentally and physically.

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

5 Impactful active learning strategies for the classroom

1. Use various activity types throughout a lesson

Students learn by doing and engaging their minds and bodies in active learning in the classroom. Varying the activity types used throughout a lesson can prompt students to take on the onus of thinking, working, and doing. It promotes intrinsic motivation so students take agency over their learning journeys.

As teachers, we aim for students to take participatory roles, which commonly involve movement, whether that’s picking up a pencil, raising a hand, or constructing a model. With Nearpod, teachers can offer a mix of question-and-answer formats from Matching Pairs, Drag and Drop, Time to Climb, and Draw It, just to name a few.

One of John Dewey’s goals in education was to create involved democratic citizens. Various assessments and interactive activities often promote peer-to-peer learning, which bolsters communication and collaboration skills. Plus, students grow by teaching others—opportunities for students to explain their thinking become a powerful check for understanding. Getting kids out of their seats to engage in paired or small group discussions, putting their heads together for problem-solving, or moving about with role-playing are examples of active learning in the classroom.

2. Activate students’ prior knowledge

A common practice in instructional design is to start each lesson with an activity meant to activate prior knowledge. Such activities include bellwork, sponge activities, and anticipatory sets. Regardless of the activity name, the goal is to better understand what the child already knows about the topic at hand and to have the student connect what they are about to learn to what they’ve learned previously. Prior knowledge can be information developed and retained through earlier classroom course material or based on personal experience outside of the classroom. Prior knowledge can differ vastly, so it is important for teachers to have a pulse on their students’ range of understanding before diving into a new lesson.

One way to spark prior knowledge is to appeal to varied learning styles with the use of multimedia. When it comes to a new topic, how can you remind students to think of what they have seen, heard, or touched before? Nearpod makes it possible for teachers to not only weave multimedia throughout their lessons but to do so in a way that invites interactivity. Try using a media-rich Poll or a Collaborate Board at the start of a lesson. When exploring how to engage students in active learning, consider using such tools and techniques into a student’s prior knowledge, making connections between what they’ve learned and know already to what they are learning now.

3. Metacognitive reflections

Personal connections to learning don’t have to occur only at the start of lessons. At the end of any lesson, we want students to reflect on what they’ve learned. Learners construct meaning from their foundational prior knowledge and then scaffold the new information they acquire, connecting the old to the new. Many teachers use exit tickets as a quick metacognitive reflection opportunity. A simple yet effective construct for such metacognitive reflections is K-W-L: What did they already KNOW, what did they WANT to know more about, and what did they LEARN?

Add a K-W-L Chart to a Draw It activity or include a Poll for implementing active learning in the classroom around a new topic. Metacognitive reflections encourage students to identify and challenge their assumptions and perspectives and create a more dynamic (and often collaborative) learning experience. Students become agents in their learning process, summarizing their main takeaways, identifying their struggles, and questioning what they want to learn more about next.

4. Make traditionally passive learning moments active

As educators, we’re always challenging students to move from lower-order thinking skills to those denoted as higher-order thinking skills in Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. Frameworks like the Padagogy Wheel suggest active verbs to strengthen learning objectives and align varied activities to reach such outcomes. With the influx of technologies and shift in philosophies, teachers’ roles have moved from the “sage on the stage” lecturing (passive learning) to more of a “guide on the side” that encourages students to engage in learning.

Nearpod’s ready-made lessons align with Mayer’s theory that effective active learning methods engage learners in at least one of three cognitive processes: selecting material to attend to, organizing material mentally into meaningful representations, and integrating those representations with prior knowledge. For instance, Nearpod lessons provide a “critical frame” to guide students as they read text or watch media. The media is followed up immediately with a prompt for them to reflect on and respond to. With ready-made Interactive Videos, interactive questions at key moments allow viewers to pause, think critically, and share their ideas.

“Ownership in the classroom matters. It’s not only how the brain learns best—by trying out new skills and wrestling with new knowledge and experiences ourselves, rather than just receiving information—but it’s also how students build the confidence to take on new challenges. When students are asked to try in school, when they are asked to push their thinking even when they’re stuck, to explain why they’ve arrived at an answer, to help a classmate, they also have the chance to stretch their sense of their own capabilities and see themselves grow.”

The New Teachers Project, The Opportunity Myth

 5. Spark connections through discussion

Classroom discussions also help students realize that their learning doesn’t occur in isolation. Such aha moments often happen through meaningful social interactions with teachers and peers alike. Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory emphasizes the role of society and culture in learning outcomes and how it occurs first through interaction with others.

Nearpod activities spark peer-to-peer conversations, think-pair-share opportunties, and small-group deliberation to leverage the social dynamics of learning. Collaborate Boards and Polls can promote class discussions, highlight anonymous answers/responses from peers for analysis, and encourage collaboration that can continue “offline.” With Nearpod, meaningful discussion underscores diverse perspectives, encourages opinion-taking, and encourages active listening and probing questioning. Today’s 21st-century skills center on the 4Cs: communication, collaboration, creation, and critical thinking (P21 (now part of Battelle for Kids)).

Create effective instructional experiences with Nearpod

No teacher wants passive, disengaged students in their classrooms. We aspire to tease out the curious learner and to show them how personally satisfying a learning experience can be. We’re the tapestry weavers making those cross-curricular connections and showing how what’s attained during instruction has real-world significance and application. In doing so, the key benefit of active learning in the classroom is that students become agents of their own learning pursuits.

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Darri Stephens

Darri Stephens is a dedicated LX (learning experience) designer, passionate about creating quality content and programs for kids, families, and educators. With MAs in Education from both Harvard and Stanford, and work experience at best-in-class ed tech organizations including Wonder Workshop, Nickelodeon, and Common Sense Education, she is steeped in the design thinking process and committed to agile and iterative project management, which has resulted in multi-award-winning programs and products.

The post 5 Impactful active learning strategies for the classroom appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

In 2022 alone, we brought joy to thousands of schools and met you at over 20 conferences worldwide. This year, we want to connect with even more educators around the world! This is your chance to catch them in person, delivering their best demo sessions to sparkle joy in the classroom. 

Whether you’re already a Nearpod fan or just getting to know us, we promise you an unforgettable experience. Scroll down to get all the details, including dates and locations of where I’ll team will be next. Don’t miss out on this epic journey, and join us for non-stop fun! See you there!

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post Nearpod’s Global Tour: Upcoming Events appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Student-Paced Mode

Nearpod’s Student-Paced Mode feature was designed with differentiating instruction in mind. Easy to use, you can build regular lessons in Nearpod without having to worry about pushing struggling learners too hard while students ready to move at a quicker pace can continue unhindered. Students still login with a 5-digit code, but can work through a lesson at their own speed.  Slower students get time to truly work through problems and process answers, but don’t feel rushed or “left behind” for not moving quickly. Interested in giving Student-Paced Mode a try, the Nearpod has wonderful articles to get you started:

• 6 Genius Ways to Use Student-Paced Nearpod Lessons
• Using Student-Paced Lessons as a Pre-Test
• Student-Paced Guide: Monitoring progress, change expiration dates, and more

Different lessons for different Levels

Remember those huge binders I made to help differentiate for my students? Well, I’m happy to report my lessons are housed in my Nearpod library and no longer a threat to anyone’s health and safety. Now, I can quickly make differentiated lessons for learners for all subject areas – spelling, reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. Pulling in clipart, videos, and content to fit my groups and what levels and skills they need to work on. If I’m short on time, Nearpod has pre-made lessons at all levels that I can edit to fit my needs. If I need rigorous content for my high achievers, the filter tool in the Nearpod library lets me select grade-levels, subjects, and even whether I want videos, lessons, or activities. You can even filter based on what specific standard you want your students working on. It doesn’t get more differentiated than that!

Lessons you create or edit/ use from the Nearpod library are immediately saved to your account for future use for many years to come. I like to make folders to organize my lessons based on small groups, skills, subjects, etc. 

Keep your differentiated lessons organized by

• Clicking the “Folder” icon in your Nearpod library
• Create a name for the folder and click “Create”
• Drag any lesson you want into the folder 
• Access lessons that are organized and ready to use!

Assessment to guide instruction

With every lesson, you get instantaneous assessment feedback to guide and differentiate instruction. After students complete Nearpod lessons, I can look into my reports and use individual student data to guide my next lessons around student needs. Reports break down by correct answers, student names, question type, responses, and percentages. If a student needs more help, I can create my own lesson or pull from the library to fit the skills I want students to practice. During a Nearpod lesson, you can also toggle between student and teacher view. The Teacher Dashboard shows you student responses in real-time so you can address misconceptions in the moment. You can even use the Whiteboard feature to model for students!

Nearpod takes assessment for differentiation one step further in that students can access and see their own reports. Conferencing with and guiding students in creating personal learning goals adds another layer to differentiation in teaching by making students accountable for their own individual learning as well. You and your students can work collaboratively to make a learning path specifically designed for that child’s learning needs. This creates a norm within the classroom for every student to realize that learning is personal and subjective. Comparing yourself to other students should become a thing of the past.

Inclusivity features for every lesson

Differentiation allows for greater inclusivity in the classroom. Technology-based lessons give students better access to concepts than various traditional methods. Nearpod’s inclusivity features support multiple needs. 

Some features include:

• Immersive Reader – Nearpod merges with Microsoft Immersive Reader with functions such as text-to-speech, translation, contrast, voice speed, and font size to name a few examples.
• Closed Caption – Videos in Nearpod lessons provide closed captions for students to follow along with videos through subtitles if needed.
• English Language Learners – Flocabulary videos help support vocabulary, English Language Learner resources in the Nearpod library to add more layers to instruction.
• Audio Functions – Audio directions and responses to help low readers and even students who are on language IEPs (Individual Education Plans).

Multiple responses for all Learners

Everyone learns differently, which means teachers need more resources at our disposal to reach and make an impact on every student inside the classroom. Inclusive classrooms that offer differentiated instruction are ones that offer flexibility along with variety in the lessons presented to students. One note worksheets make an impact on a small percentage of students in the classroom, not to mention they don’t gain much positive attention. 

Integrating different Nearpod activities, such as these, into your lessons can cast a wider net for all the unique gems in class:

• Slides and videos for visual learners
• Open-Ended Questions for deep thinkers
• Draw-it for artistic students
• Time to Climb for competitive types 
• Drag and Drop for hands-on learners
• Collaboration Board for social collaborators
• Polls for opinionated learners
• Matching Pairs for the ones who see patterns
• Fill in the Blanks for those who need context
• VR Field Trips for imaginative mind

Differentiation becomes second nature in a classroom with the right resources at your disposal. Nearpod’s many features and activities make learning accessible to all learners in the classroom. Isn’t that what all teachers want?

Angelia Simpson

Angelia Simpson has been a first grade teacher for nine years. With a classroom full of minions, she balances the wonderful line of chaos and learning. Passions include writing, technology, reading, and Corgis.

The post How to use tech to differentiate for students appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

However, for those of us who love it, we know that there is so much more to learning math. Mathematics is more than crunching numbers or following a predetermined set of steps — math instruction can be a rich experience, full of questioning, exploration, and discovery. 

In this guide, we’ll show you a few ways to capture that energy and bring it into your math classroom using interactive tools.

Write About Math

To take math instruction off the page, ask students to explore what their work means. Calculating the solution to a problem is only one aspect of doing math; students also grow as mathematicians by discussing their work. With writing, you can ask your students to access deeper meaning within their work – by analyzing a story question, setting a goal, writing a plan before they solve a problem, discussing the steps they took to solve it, or justifying their answer (to name a few)! 

There’s no end to how students benefit from writing in mathematics. Writing has been shown to improve students’ grasp of mathematical reasoning and problem solving, use of evidence and logical processing, and ability to communicate their findings more clearly and effectively (source). Simply put, writing expands students’ ability to be analytical problem-solvers. 

Nearpod’s open-ended question feature can help you bring more writing into your instruction. When previewing a challenging question, you can ask students to pause and write a goal or a plan for the question before they begin. Instead of having to circulate around the room to check each student’s work, their plans will arrive on your screen in real-time, and you can focus on the students who need you most.

You can also use this tool to bring more dialogue into your classroom. After solving a problem, use an Open-Ended Question to prompt students to defend their answer; you may ask them to justify each step, or focus on one part of the question to dissect. With the “Share” tool, you can broadcast any student answer anonymously, and use it to open up discussion with your students: Do they agree with this student? How was this answer strong, or how could it be improved? 

Math Vocabulary

It’s no secret that math has its own language. Whether your students are learning to find partial products and how many quarts fit inside a gallon, or to calculate continuous functions and find derivatives, students are engaging in decoding and internalizing new vocabulary. It can be challenging for students, especially our students who read below grade level or who are learning English, and these challenges can compound over time (source), leaving struggling students behind.

It might feel tedious to dedicate a whole lesson to vocabulary or to ask your students to devote class time to making flash cards. The good news is, you don’t have to. Integrate a Matching Paris activity into your lessons, instead. Nearpod’s Matching Pairs tool is an interactive and attention-grabbing way to practice math terms: in a Matching Pairs moment, students’ screens fill with tiles that disappear as they correctly match each term with its definition. Students have as many chances as they need until they match each term with its correct definition.

This activity can be meaningful in your classroom in so many different ways, because it’s flexible. You curate the terms and definitions that fit your content. You can choose to cover many terms during a review lesson, or cover only a few key words for a quick check for understanding. With instant data, you can create targeted support groups and tier your instruction to match your students’ diverse needs.

Exploring Graphs

Analyzing data is one of the most powerful and important elements of mathematics instruction. Graphs and tables are common in everyday life, and teaching your students to become “fluent” in graphs and tables empowers them not only to excel in class, but also to make more sense of the world around them. Taking data and turning it into a graph is no small feat, though — and interpreting data from a graph can be even more challenging for students. You can use technology to breathe life into graphing and graph analysis in your classroom using Nearpod’s Draw It feature.

There are many steps to constructing a graph, and more likely than not, your students come into class with different levels of mastery: some of your students may be ready to plot, while others are still grappling to discern the x axis from the y axis. Using the Nearpod Draw It tool, you can quickly see each student’s individual progress. Each student’s work is displayed on your teacher panel, and it updates in real-time to show you their work as they progress through a problem. With this data, you can narrate common misconceptions for the whole class, and you can visit individual students for targeted support. With the “share” feature, you can also show-call student work — Nearpod will broadcast an individual student’s graph anonymously to every student’s screen, and your class can discuss (or admire!) their work. 

The Draw It tool can also help you deepen how your students analyze data. You can upload any graph as a “background” that students can then draw upon. Ask students to annotate a graph to find the peak, individual data points, or outliers. You may want to show your students a graph that is missing certain data, like axis labels or a scale, and ask them to fill in the missing information. If your students are learning to construct their own graphs, a popular student activity is to “grade the graph:” create a graph riddled with errors, then ask your students to mark (and correct) as many mistakes as they can find!

Number Talks

Number talks are a great way to build numeracy and number sense with your students. Number talks are short (10-ish minutes) question-based discussions that complement your regular instruction. They can become high-leverage learning moments in your classroom, because you’re asking students to generate solutions and evaluate strategies. In a number talk, you may ask students to find a rule, solve a problem, or analyze a pattern. The key is that students are independently designing and describing their pathways to solve the problem, and then collaboratively sharing and critiquing their ideas.

To do a number talk with your students, present the class with a problem and ask them to mentally solve the problem (but don’t share their answer). When students have found a solution, they’ll signal to you that they’ve solved it, and if they can find more than one way to solve the problem, they signal that, too. Instead of a public signal like a raised hand, which can be overwhelming or discouraging to surrounding students, try giving your students a Poll question on Nearpod: “How many solutions can you find to this problem?” You’ll receive instant data about which students have solutions, and can pull ideas from across your classroom — even if a student has put their hand down.

The “talk” portion of a Number Talk is the most essential: this is where students share out their solutions and evaluate them. It can feel energizing to hear active minds at work, but it can be overwhelming to record your students’ ideas as they share them aloud. Instead, ask your students to explain their ideas on a Collaborate Board. Collaborate Boards create a public space for all of your students to respond to a question, and each student’s response shows up as a virtual post-it note. (As the teacher, you can see who wrote which response but the responses are anonymous to students.) Your students can practice explaining their ideas in writing, they’ll have a clean and organized view of everyone’s ideas, and they can vote for their favorite responses by clicking the heart icon on the post-its they agree with most.

Digital interactives are a fun way to make your math instruction more dynamic. With these tools, you can bring energy to your classroom and enhance your students’ mastery of mathematics, all while gathering meaningful, real-time data. Happy teaching! 

Ellen Watkins

The post 4 ways to teach math with edtech appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

We’re giving away $50 Amazon.com Giftcards!

On December 16, we will post a question to retweet/share and respond to on Twitter using the hashtag #NearpodCheer. Winners will be randomly selected. At the end of the contest (December 21), 80 winners will receive a $50 Amazon.com Gift Card! So what are you waiting for? Dash on over to Twitter and get entered today!

Read the official rules here.

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post Nearpod Cheer Giveaway appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

1. Delivering PD? Use for Summer Professional Development

Summer time is the perfect opportunity for professional development. Whether you’re a listener or a presenter, one thing is certain. We all want engaging trainings. Read about 6 ways to transform your next training, presentation or conference experience here.

After reading the above post about all of the reasons why Nearpod has been teacher’s go to resource when presenting at conferences. Read tried and true ticks to engage your audience during these presentations here.

2. Send Student-Paced Codes to eliminate the COVID Slide

In our Virtual End of the Year blog post, we linked some excellent resources that can be used for end of the year or in the Summer. Take for example our Virtual Reality Student Paced Code Template! Add student-paced codes, and set the expiration to the end of Summer.

3. Get Ready for the Next School Year

We asked teachers how they plan on using Nearpod to get ready for the following school year and added their responses below!

Organize your lessons so it’s easy to navigate

Just like your teacher table, we know you probably like to throw your lessons into your Lesson Library. Summer is the perfect time to organize them into Folders and color code so that you can easily grab what you need, when you need it…quickly!

Adapt your material you’ve created the past few years to Nearpod so you’re prepared for a virtual or physical environment

Curious how to get started adapting your current lessons into Nearpod? Read this post to learn more.

Want more resources? Explore our Summer Resources Toolkit!

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post 3 Ways to Use Nearpod During the Summer appeared first on Nearpod Blog.