Learning More about Active Learning Strategies

[Greg Timmons]

Welcome Back to School! I hope you had a restful and rewarding summer. We had over a dozen new members sign up for Teacher’s Center and look forward to hearing from you all with your insightful comments and fabulous ideas on using Interact in your classroom.

I will be making blog posts containing interesting items and articles on Active Learning Strategies and invite all of you to review, comment and add to as you like. Some entries will contain links to sites that help teachers just getting started with Interact materials, others will feature recent reports on learning styles, authentic assessment, and effective ways to integrate active learning with the academic standards. I also welcome any of you who have come across great resources to email me or respond in any of the blog entries.

In addition, every month I will publish new posts on using previously published Interact titles to teach current events. The wide range of Interact titles provides teachers many opportunities for integration and helps build subject matter understanding and skills. I encourage any of you to comment on how you’ve used the units in your classroom or with questions on their application.

For August, I've posted how to use the Interact simulation "BLACK GOLD" when teaching about oil spills (such as the recent spill in the Gulf of Mexico) and fossil fuel dependency. Keep checking back as other suggestions will be made. Have a great school year!