The White House celebrated Active Learning Day on Tuesday by announcing projects that increase access to high-quality STEM education.
Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL), led by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), will invest in faculty professional development and create faculty awards for active learning strategies. The Association of American Universities (AAU) and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) are starting active learning initiatives on 260 campuses. 100Kin10 invested in active learning curriculum materials in science, technology, engineering, and math for preK-12 students in and out of schools.
Active learning includes strategies that encourage students to think, question, and problem solve, which leads to knowledge retention. Examples of active learning include allowing students to reflect and write about a topic that they just learned or organizing a science competition.
“One area that deserves continued focus is the use of evidence-based teaching methods, such as active learning, in the classroom,” Jo Handelsman, associate director for science at the OSTP, and Quincy Brown, senior policy adviser at the OSTP, said in a blog post. “On Active Learning Day, instructors at all levels of education—from kindergarten to college—are actively engaging students in STEM and announcing new efforts to sustain the use of active learning throughout STEM education.”
The Obama administration is hosting STEM events this week about the importance of Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States; best practices for engaging the students in the arts, technology, and education sectors; and inclusive STEM education.
