ERIC Number: EJ1069726
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2368-4526
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"There Is No Single Right Answer": The Potential for Active Learning Classrooms to Facilitate Actively Open-Minded Thinking
Chen, Victoria
Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching, v8 p171-180 2015
Education is meant to open your mind, but is that what universities are really doing? Rather than fostering open-minded thinking, the format of lecturing, the lack of interaction among students and instructors, and the passive nature of learning are likely producing the opposite, students with closed-minds. The development and implementation of Active Learning Classrooms (ALC) has the capability to counteract this negative trend by providing a configuration suited for more collaborative learning and opportunities for students to share their thoughts, hear other perspectives from peers, and have the potential to become more open-minded. A description of a study on students in a fourth year psychology course is provided in which the instructor changed her course in order to use the ALC to its fullest capacity. Students were also given an Actively Open-minded Thinking questionnaire (Stanovich & West, 1997) pre and post course, with results indicating that open-minded thinking increased over the term. Although there are many components that could contribute to this result, the impact that educational spaces may have on student learning are discussed.
Descriptors: Active Learning, Cooperative Learning, Undergraduate Students, Classroom Environment, Classroom Techniques, Class Organization, Psychology, Majors (Students), Questionnaires, Scores, Statistical Analysis, Pretests Posttests
Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. 1280 Main Street West, Mills Library Room 504, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L6, Canada. Tel: 905-525-9140; Web site: http://www.stlhe.ca
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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