Active Learning in STEM Education: Principles and Practices for Student-Centered Classrooms

prof. David C. Webb, Ph.D.
University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado, USA

Active learning is transforming STEM education by encouraging students to take an active role in their learning. This plenary session will explore four foundational pillars of active learning: students’ deep engagement with meaningful tasks, peer-to-peer interaction, instructor inquiry into student thinking, and fostering equity in instructors’ design and facilitation choices (Laursen & Rasmussen, 2019). These pillars have guided successful reform initiatives like the SEMINAL project, reshaping STEM education at the university level.

However, these principles and related practices are applicable at all educational levels. Meaningful tasks can be designed that utilize relevant and interesting problem contexts. Tasks that are open to multiple representations and strategies can be used to support student interaction and conceptual understanding. Actionable strategies and examples will illustrate how tasks can be designed to promote more active, student-centered STEM classrooms, from primary through tertiary education.