The Active Learning Foundation Update

Director - Tom Jackson 

Volume 3 Winter 2001 

A couple of years ago the Association of American Publishers, School Division conducted a survey and asked teachers which instructional tools they rated as "highly effective". Here were the results of that survey. The percentages show the number of teachers who rated that particular teaching strategy as "highly effective". Respondents to the survey could vote for more than one teaching strategy.

• hands-on activities 55%
• videos 31%
• handouts 26%
• textbooks 25%
• educational computer programs 20%

As you can see, a hands-on approach to teaching was the overwhelming choice by the majority of teachers. This result could have predicted by those of us who use active learning, but this type of survey is not very scientific and did not raise much interest from the academia in the educational field.

However, a new report has just been published which was undertaken by the Educational Testing Service with funding from the Milken Family Faoundation. If you are not familiar with this testing organization, they are the ones that do the PSAT, SAT and GRE testing. The report is titled: How Teaching Matters: Bringing the Classroom Back Into Discussions of Teacher Quality. They set out to discover which classroom practices are

the most effective when measuring gains in student achievement. I am sure that their interest stemmed from the increased pressure on schools to have their students score well on state and national tests. If they can help local school districts improve their test scores, then testing will be looked upon with a more favorable light.

They looked at various ways that student assessment scores can be improved. Some methods that were examined were improving teacher salaries, smaller class size, the teacher’s level of education and the number of years a teacher had taught. After a study of the literature and their own testing results, they concluded that what happens in the classroom has more impact on increasing test scores than what the teacher brings to the classroom. Therefore they feel that "changing the nature of teaching and learning in the classroom may be the most direct way to improve student outcomes". They then looked at various teaching strategies that are utilized by teachers and measured the gains in achievement by students whose teachers used each type of teaching strategy. Their study was national in scope and involved 14,922 eighth graders. The academic subjects they used in their research were math and science since these are tested by most entities. However, as I read the study I feel the results can be applied to any subject area.

After measuring a number of teaching strategies, here are some of the outcomes that resulted from this study:

• Students whose teachers emphasize higher-order thinking skills and hands-on learning activities outperform their peers significantly.
• Students who engage in hands-on learning on a weekly basis outperform those who engage in this manner of instruction on a monthly basis.
• Students whose teachers conduct hands-on learning activities outperform their peers by 72% of a grade level in math and 40% of a grade level in science.

To summarize the report I turn to their own words, "This study indicates that the most effective classroom practices involve conveying higher order thinking skills and engaging in hands-on learning activities". So for those of you who are already using hands-on learning, keep on doing it! For those who haven’t tried it yet, get with the research and give it a try.

You can read the entire 32 page report at www.ets.org

To deal with issues such as these, the Active Learning Foundation has created the "Host a Workshop Program". By teaming up together in a collaborative effort, we hope to reach more people who would benefit from being trained in how to use activities to engage kids. Our problem in reaching these people is very simple: we don’t know who they are. That’s where you come in. We need individuals or organizations to host Tom Jackson and his one-day Activities That Teach workshop. The workshop can be offered during the day or a slightly shortened version may be offered in the evening if your local organizations have a hard time releasing people during the normal work day. We will provide Tom Jackson to do the training, you provide the place and the people. Because this host program does not fit the needs of conferences or large organizations who provide in-house trainings, our regular speaking services are explained at our web site activelearning.org under the heading of "Speaking Info".

• $300 (or more) in cash to use at your discretion. These grant funds may be used to offset the cost of refreshments, facility use, advertising, etc., or if these items are donated you may use the grant money for other needs in your organization.
• An additional $10 for each attendee over the required minimum of 30
• 5 free registrations to the workshop (a $325 value)
• 5 complete sets of all four of Tom’s books (a $329 value)
• 15% of all of the money from book sales ordered for your workshop

You work with local people all the time who would benefit from attending an active learning workshop. These include elementary and secondary teachers, after-school program staff, church youth leaders, alcohol and drug programs, counselors, Boy Scout and Girl Scout

leaders, 4-H programs, juvenile court staff and many more. Anyone who works with children and youth will be excited to see and experience hands-on learning activities that can be used to teach life skills such as communication, goal setting, anger management, working together, problem solving, decision making, diversity issues, substance abuse prevention, violence prevention, responsibility, self-esteem and character education.

• Advertise and promote the workshop to secure participants. There must be a minimum of 30 paying participants to hold the workshop with a maximum of 100 total participants. If the workshop is canceled due to low enrollment, you will still receive $100 of the grant to cover any incidental costs that you might have incurred.
• Register participants prior to the workshop.
• Collect registration fees and send a single payment to us.
• Secure a facility that is large enough, has tables, an overhead projector, a screen and an adequate sound system. This could be a hotel, church, school building, city facility, community meeting hall or any other place that has a multi-purpose room.
• Provide transportation for Tom Jackson between the airport, hotel and workshop site or work with us for other arrangements.
• Provide a person to register participants at the door, finalize fees and oversee book sales.
• Provide morning refreshments (drinks and snacks) around 10:00 a.m.

• A flyer that can be used to advertise the workshop.
• Handouts for the participants.
• A practical, hands-on workshop, conducted by Tom Jackson that will send the participants away excited, motivated and prepared to use activities with their kids.
• Provide each participant with a certificate verifying 5 or 6 clock hours of training.
• Pay for all of Tom’s travel costs associated with this workshop except for ground transportation.

• Day workshop times: Registration begins at 8:10 a.m. and the workshop goes from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with 1 hour and 15 minutes for lunch (on their own). If your organization wants lunch to be included and served at the site, then you must make the arrangements and have a separate charge for the lunch.
• Evening workshop times: Registration begins at 4:10 p.m. and the workshop goes from 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. There will be refreshments served, but not a dinner meal.
• Cost $65.00 per person.
• A handout will be provided to each participant.
• Tom Jackson’s activity books may be pre-ordered at a discount before the workshop or purchased at the workshop at the regular price.

The Active Learning Foundation understands that there are many variables in each local area which must be taken into consideration when putting together a workshop. If any of the listed items are not practical or must be adjusted for your local community, talk to us so we can discuss an arrangement which will better meet your specific needs.

Call now if you would like to be considered to host a workshop in your area. Only a limited number of grants will be assigned, so contact us quickly. Call Janet Jackson (toll free

1-888-588-7078) to ask questions or to discuss a possible date for a workshop in your area.

In a couple of my books I have activities where you build a free-standing tower using various materials. Here is another variation that I have used and have had a lot of success with.

Title: Tower of Air

Topic Area: Problem Solving, Working Together

Concept: Sometimes the decisions we make are not ours alone to make. There might be a group of people involved. You need to know how decisions are made in a group and the dynamics that take place. Our ability to influence a group decision will play a major role in our staying out of trouble since many of our troubles occur in groups and not by ourselves. Students will look at the issue of problem solving while trying to create the tower. They will also have to determine ways to work together since this activity sets up an artificial situation that requires them to do so.

Method: Classroom activity

Time Estimate: 15 minutes plus discussion time

10 balloons for each team of three (The balloons can all be the same size of shape or they can be various sizes and shapes)

Masking tape

Yard stick