Learning Activities

Examples of learning activities that support the strategies in phase 3:

“One-minute paper”: The one-minute paper is an exercise that can be used to ask students to reflect on their learning. After a group exercise or discussion (or after an interactive learning activity from phase 2), students get one minute to write down which insights they take away from the discussion or the group exercise. By having students actively think about the learning that took place during the interaction with other perspectives, they will be stimulated to reflect on them in relation to their own.

Supports: Reflecting on learning process

“Big paper”: This is a silent exercise; no talking is allowed. Students get a flip-over sheet per duo and the problem/question/case they need to work on. They read the material in silence, and proceed interacting with the material by writing down questions/remarks about it on the big paper. They can react to each other, ask each other questions, draw diagrams etc. but it all needs to be done on paper and in silence.

A variation to make this a group exercise: after a certain amount of time students walk around the room, and look at the big papers of other duos. They add questions/remarks of their own, still in silence. When they return to their own “Big paper”, they integrate the comments/notes/questions that other students wrote down into their own answer.

Supports: Combining perspectives in a structured way, switching between perspectives to stimulate cognitive flexibility

“Think aloud”: Students each get a different text or math problem, and reads it to the other student while pausing every few sentences to “think aloud”, giving their partner insight in their individual thought process. Students then switch. When both students have each solved a math problem this way, or (close) read a text, they reflect on both approaches. What was helpful? What would you not have thought to do? What would you have done differently? Together students synthesize the best approach.

Supports: Combining perspectives in a structured way, reflecting on learning process

“Jig Saw” or “Expert” exercise: Student groups each get a different ‘piece of the puzzle’: a different part of information that is necessary to solve a problem/tackle a case. They look at this piece of information in depth. New groups are made, consisting of students that each have a different bit of information. Students then try combine all information available to them to solve the problem (Doymus, 2010)

Supports: Combining perspectives in a structured way, Switching between perspectives to stimulate cognitive flexibility

“Student-led sessions”: Students rotate leading (part of) the tutorials, preparing their own input and questions. Doing this will bring their own perspective on the material into the course. To stimulate this, the teacher can explicitly ask them to add a source (article or video) to the session that they think is missing from the course.

Supports: Combining perspectives in a structured way, good practice from the faculty of Religion and Theology

“Chain notes”: Students are divided in sub-groups. One student gives a concise answer to a complex question on a piece of paper and passes the paper on to another student to add to their answer. Students then build on each other’s answers, and actively try to fill in missing pieces of information, elaborating by adding new and fresh perspectives when possible. This exercise can also be done in a collaborative Google document.

Supports: Structuring combining perspectives in learning activities

“Solving the problem”: Students are divided in subgroups. Each group gets the same problem/case/question, but each group is assigned a different perspective. An example could be a legal case that students analyse from the point of view of the defendant, a lawyer, a prosecutor and a judge.

After each group spends some time working out the problem/case/question, they present their findings to the rest of the class, who then can question/challenge/debate them from their own assigned perspectives. During this discussion, the big picture of the case emerges and can be analysed further.

Supports: Structuring combining perspectives in learning activities

“Index card pass”: Students get an index card. They write down a question about the material for the entire group. They then pass on their card to another student, who passes it to another student. Students then make groups of three or four, and pick one question on the index cards they have as a group (it cannot be a question of one of the group members) and collaboratively try to come up with answers to it, taking notes during the process—which steps are taken, what main themes are discussed, etc. (for example on flip-over sheets)

After the question has been answered, it is shared with the student whose card was discussed, including the notes about how the answer was constructed by the group.

Supports: Combining perspectives in a structured way

“Tag team discussion”: In this discussion exercise, students are randomly divided in an inner circle and an outer circle. Students sitting in the inner circle are part of a discussion. The rest listens carefully, as they can be “tagged” by the teacher to swap chairs with a student from the inner circle, and contribute the discussion. The teacher especially tags a student when the discussion benefits from new input/new perspectives. Knowing this, students will actively try to think of fresh/unique perspectives on the subject of discussion. By the end of the discussion, all students have participated.

Supports: Combining perspectives in a structured way, Switching between perspectives to stimulate cognitive flexibility

“World Café exercise”: Students are given a question, problem or statement, and divided in subgroups to discuss it, writing/doodling their talking points or calculations on a flip-over sheet. One student then remains at the table as an ambassador. Other students spread across the other tables bringing with them the insights they had at their own tables. After a few rounds, the outcomes of the conversations or calculations can be summarized per table and discussed with the entire group. Students can then be asked to actively combine each other’s perspectives to come up with creative solutions.

Supports: Combining perspectives in a structured way