In this video demo, a psychology teacher uses an Active Learning strategy in an undergraduate class to develop interest in a new topic, giving students opportunity to pool their knowledge and learn from one another. These students regularly work in small groups in this class and receive grades for group involvement, as well as individual work. The teacher announces the topic, explains the group activity, and gives groups a time limit for developing their lists.

Students work in groups, sharing knowledge and experiences associated with schizophrenia. Each group develops its list of facts and characteristics of the disease. The teacher circulates and observes group activity.

The professor calls time, appoints a scorekeeper, and moves right into the lecture about schizophrenia. When her lecture addresses a characteristic that a group had listed, a group member raises his hand and reports what his group said about that characteristic of schizophrenia. The scorekeeper records points for that group. The lecture/group reporting process continues. The scorekeeper totals group scores at the end of class.


Summary/Value
This Active Learning strategy gets students turned on to the topic from the start. Students pool their knowledge, share experiences, and learn from one another. Students remain tuned in during the lecture, listening with added interest and incentive. Groups build cohesion by contributing to the knowledge pool to earn points for their group. The teacher benefits from seeing how much the class knows about the topic.