What Is Active Learning?

Individualized. Active learning is individualized, centering on the learner, not the teacher. Tailor the lesson to the learner: what area does she need to grow in? What methods of learning have worked well for him? Crucially, this also means that active learning is not inherently the best method for every learner. Active learning is an engaging and powerful teaching method, but there are also other excellent methods that might better fit an individual learner.

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Does individualizing lessons mean more work for the teacher? No… it means targeting your work differently. Instead of crafting a fixed presentation, teachers invest work in observing the learners and adapting as-needed during the lesson. Learners continually provide feedback for these in-lesson adjustments (being focused vs. tuning out, making progress vs. becoming frustrated, etc.) If teachers need more feedback than observations provide, questions can encourage students to vocalize their thought processes when tackling problems ("Talk through this step-by-step. What are your thoughts?"). Teachers do plan active learning lessons ahead of time: they create a sound "skeleton" that students and teacher together will flesh out during the class itself.

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Example: If studying "Jesus Calms the Storm" as a Sunday School substitute teacher, you can prepare an active learning lesson by gathering information about the students beforehand. Their age/grade will give you an idea of their developmental level (attention spans, reading skills, etc.), and a few minutes talking with their regular teacher will help you understand the students' expectations ("What do you usually do during class?"). Choose learning activities for the lesson that fit with their development and with the regular teacher's structure; just engage the students in discovering the lesson's main concepts (Jesus is God, God can protect us from anything, Jesus saved us by perfectly trusting God for us). Your lesson skeleton might be a simple outline of main points and a well-formed question ready for each:

A. JESUS IS GOD

"Who is this? Even the wind and waves obey him!" (Mk 4:41)

B. JESUS SAVED US BY PERFECTLY TRUSTING GOD FOR US

read Ps 56:3–4 - Jesus was confident even in danger! Who was he trusting in?

read Ro 5:19b - The last time I was scared, I didn't trust God. I acted like the disciples. But Romans promises that Jesus gave me something important: what is it?

if time: Jesus had power over the storm; he could have prevented it. Why did he let his disciples go through this danger?

Notice the flexibility built into a lesson skeleton! It guides the learning, yet allows students to participate in shaping the class according to their needs.

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If doing the session with adults at a church retreat, your lesson skeleton might be the same—but the actual class will likely develop differently. Adults tend to be more reticent about sharing deeply personal feelings and events. Their storms may also be different: divorce, chronic illness, the exhaustion of caregiving, years suffering systemic injustice, etc. Structure the lesson so people feel comfortable sharing intimately (perhaps leave time to break out into small groups). As with all ages, observe the learners: continue an activity while it is working well, but if people seem stuck, be ready to give them some starters. Once an activity has reached its natural end, regroup and move to the next portion of your presentation.

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One of the strengths of active learning is that it allows learners of different knowledge levels and backgrounds to study the same lesson together, benefiting from each other as well as the teacher.

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Example: Suppose you teach Isaiah 11 in a congregational study. Some new Christians there don't yet know how to tell law apart from gospel, but there are also clergy attending who could quote you the original Hebrew. Can you really individualize teaching a heterogeneous group like this? Yes: you can structure the study so that everyone engages with the text, which allows each member to grow where he/she is at. It's okay if one person grows in recognizing Messianic prophecies while another grows in better understanding the fullness of Jesus' anointing. In fact, students will absorb others' insights and methods, in this way participating together in learning. As they see others taking correction in stride as part of the routine learning process, they will learn to not let fear of a wrong answer be an obstacle. They will also see how to independently check ideas (their own and others') against the Bible's ultimate authority, learning to let God's word be our rule and guide.

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When preparing a study for such a varied group, select one or two main textual concepts for people to take away with them (perhaps "Isaiah foretold that the Spirit would anoint the Messiah"). Work through the text with the group, asking questions which help them explore the text to learn more. (Rather than stating, "This is a prophecy about Jesus," ask, "Does someone know whom this prophecy is talking about?" following up with, "How do we know that?") Ensure that the main point is discovered and clearly communicated. It's also essential to build in time to notice and discuss learners' own questions. Communicate early to encourage people's contributions: "Please raise questions as you think of them." Direct people toward ownership of learning with prompts such as, "Does anything puzzle you about this section?" or, "Can you think of other pertinent verses about the Spirit's anointing?" Delve further into subpoints of the lesson as time permits (perhaps, "What was the purpose of our Christ being anointed?" or, "During Jesus' life, were people able to notice his anointing? Who has an example?").

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Passive learning methods involve guessing what learners know and presenting what you have learned about a topic (aiming for the middle of a multi-level group). But active learning, by inviting learners to dig into the topic with you, provides immediate, ongoing feedback on which areas people need to grow in and which burdens they need to bring to God today.