Articles on Active Learning

"Simple ways to add active learning to your library instruction" provides practical tips for adding active learning to your class. I think I'm going to try the Group Search idea in an upcoming class. Has anyone tried this? One student is the Navigator and leads or steers the group. The second student is the Helmsperson, s/he does the searching on behalf of the group. A third student is the Recorder and fills out a worksheet (I guess I have to design the worksheet, huh). And the fourth student is the Reporter and does a short presentation to the class. I'll let you know how it turns out.

"Making the most of the one-shot you got" presents the Direct-Instruction Teaching Model. Jeff Lyles has also written about this model, so it must be a good idea. The only confusing part of this model is that the author of the article states that it's teacher-centric. But he also says that it has active learning components built in. To me, it seems to be a good balance between a teacher-centered classroom and a student-centered one.