How to Engage Students in Active Learning

Students from kindergarten through college learn best when they are active participants in the process—not just passive recipients of information. Teachers can engage students in active learning by inviting them to explore, question, collaborate, and apply what they’re learning in meaningful ways. 

At its core, learning is about making connections. When students are given the opportunity to interact with content, with each other, and in real-world contexts, they’re more likely to develop the critical thinking and problem-solving skills they need to succeed.

What is active engagement in learning?

Active learning is an approach that engages students in the learning process. Rather than passively receive information lecture-style, students are engaged in critical thinking and collaborating with their classmates. Active learners participate in classroom discussions, do hands-on experiments, work with classmates to solve problems, participate in peer teaching, and so much more. The goals of active learning are to deepen student understanding, retain information better, and develop higher-order thinking skills.

Let’s look at some ways to help our students become actively engaged in learning.

4 ways to engage students in active learning

1. Make learning a game

Active learning isn’t just about games, but that doesn’t mean that games can’t play a part. Games increase intrinsic motivation and help students develop a positive mindset for what they’re learning.

Games can be simple or complex. Math teachers can create games using cards with numbers on them. For example, to have students practice addition, each player flips two cards and adds them. The player with the higher sum wins. ELA teachers may have students draw vocabulary words and act them out while classmates guess the word to reinforce learning. 

You can also find online games for virtually any subject to keep your students engaged. In any case, games can help students remain focused for extended periods of time—more so than traditional formats like a worksheet.

The concept of gamification in education is not new. But with the proliferation of technology in the classroom, teachers have new options for engaging learners.

2. Make learning hands-on

People learn best by doing. By providing ample hands-on opportunities, teachers can more effectively engage students in active learning. Students might take a class poll on a topic they’re learning about and build a graph. They might act out scenes from a book, create comic strips to summarize a story, design posters to illustrate a concept, build a prototype of a new invention, take a trip to a museum to make real-world connections to what they’re learning in the classroom, the list goes on. When students have a chance to physically interact with the material, they’re going to make lasting connections with it and remember those experiences for much longer than they would otherwise.

Active learning engagement strategies like this can work in any classroom, so get creative! 

3. Collaboration and debate

Providing opportunities for students to discuss a topic and even debate one another is a great way to actively engage students in the learning process. When you ask students to discuss a topic or defend a point of view, you force them to think more carefully and seek out evidence in support of their beliefs. It also opens the door for students to question each other respectfully. 

Collaboration also creates an environment where students must consider more than one perspective. They may have an idea about a concept in their head, but when they discuss it with a few peers who have different ideas, it might change their original perception.

Not only is debating an example of the active learning process, but it’s also a great way to clear up misconceptions and bring them to the forefront. When you ask students to collaborate, you encourage them to provide evidence to support their ideas. If the evidence is not there, it often can help push a student to learn more about the topic so that they can back up their ideas.

4. Give students a choice

When possible, allowing students to explore areas of interest can lead to a more engaging active learning experience. Every student has a set of interests. By allowing them to explore those interests freely, we give students opportunities to actively engage in learning about the topic.

For example, if your class is learning about climate change, you might give students a range of topics to explore, like fossil fuels, the greenhouse effect, or the impact of the changing environment on wildlife and habitats. By providing a variety of topics that students are free to choose from, you ensure that students are not only learning about the core topic, but examining it from an angle that actually interests them.

The other benefit of giving students choice is that they can take ownership of what they’re learning about. Students may be more excited to complete an assignment when they have a choice. They may even take more responsibility for their learning and enjoy the process. Choice boards can be a great way to encourage students to follow their interests, practice decision-making, and explore who they are as learners.

Keeping students engaged and active

Finding ways to help students engage in active learning can be a rewarding part of teaching. Try incorporating gamification, collaboration, or hands-on learning into your lessons. These are just a few ways to make lessons more relevant, especially for topics that might not initially spark student interest.

This article was adapted from a blog post initially developed by the education technology company Classcraft, which was acquired by HMH in 2023. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of HMH.

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