Top 10 Active Teaching Methods That Work Best Today

The term Active teaching means applying educational methods that encourage learners' initiative and creativity. As a result, active teaching methods were created to end the "teacher dictates, student writes" pattern and help learners absorb knowledge faster. The article below answers the question: MONA Media will help you understand the concept of What are active teaching methods? It also suggests the top 10 successful ways to teach actively in use today.

What are active teaching methods?

Active teaching methods are a set of teaching techniques that encourage active thinking and creativity and raise students' enthusiasm for learning. These activities aim to create a friendly, collaborative learning environment and encourage students' all-round development.

Activities in active teaching techniques include setting goals, showing interest, praising, encouraging, giving feedback, resolving conflict, and promoting students' creativity and critical thinking.

Here, the teacher raises issues and guides the students. This requires teachers to be enthusiastic, confident and expert in their subject for teaching to work as well as possible. 

Why active teaching methods matter

When we talk about active teaching methods and techniques we mean teaching method innovation teaching in an active direction. Here, the teacher raises the issue and delivers the knowledge, while students discuss and state their own views on the topic under discussion.

This teaching method rests on the learner's initiative and creative thinking, and the teacher only opens up the issue for them. This can be seen as a big difference from traditional teaching methods.

Top 10 most successful active teaching methods today

Applying active teaching approaches gives students knowledge and also develops their skills, attitudes and personal awareness. Here are some active teaching methods that teachers can use to make lessons more engaging.

Question-and-answer method

Question-and-answer method is an active teaching technique that helps students develop thinking, self-study and communication skills. Instead of delivering knowledge one way, the teacher uses questions to spark curiosity, encourage participation and push students to explore on their own.

This question-and-answer method has advantages such as:

• Students develop thinking, self-study and communication skills.
• Teachers can gauge how well students understand and take in the knowledge.
• It creates a friendly, lively classroom.

Active teaching: posing and solving problems

Posing and solving problems is one of the is an effective active teaching method that builds students' thinking, creativity and collaboration. The teacher presents real-life problems related to the lesson topic, asks students to discuss in groups and find possible solutions. Students are also encouraged to present their group's results and to comment on and evaluate other groups' solutions. 

Some advantages of active teaching through posing and solving problems are:

• Students grasp knowledge more easily.
• It builds teamwork skills.
• It improves problem-solving skills.
• It develops time management skills.

Active teaching through group activities

This way of teaching helps students develop teamwork skills and critical thinking. To use the group work method, the teacher divides the class into small groups and gives each group a specific task. The teacher can then easily assess results based on each individual's and each group's contribution.

Advantages of active teaching in groups:

• It develops communication skills and builds students' confidence.
• It strengthens collective learning.
• It brings strong results and lets teachers assess each student's ability.

Project-based teaching

Project-based teaching is one of the good ways to teach, a teaching model where students take part in real projects, usually comprehensive tasks that build skills.

This project-based active teaching method has many advantages, including:

• It develops critical thinking and creativity.
• It improves presentation skills.
• It encourages learning from the study group.
• It builds independence in learning, exploring and solving real problems.

Teaching through role-play

Role-play is an activity where students take on the role of a character or situation. As a result, active teaching methods this method can be used in many subjects because of the advantages it brings:

• It creates positive energy in the classroom.
• It helps students picture the lesson content more easily.
• It develops communication skills.
• It keeps students focused while they learn.

To run a role-play activity well, the teacher needs to prepare these steps carefully: 

• Define the lesson goal.
• Choose a suitable topic and scenario.
• Assign roles to students.
• Guide and follow students as they play their roles.
• Hold a discussion and give feedback after the role-play.

Discovery method: WebQuest

WEBQUEST Colocation is a is a learning format based on research and discovery, in which students use IT tools to search for and self-study lessons on a given topic. The teacher provides quality, reputable websites so students can consult them and solve the problems set.

This active teaching and learning method brings many advantages, such as:

• Students can reach a large amount of information and online resources.
• It promotes the ability to search for, select and analyze information.
• It develops self-study skills and effective time management.
• It strengthens the connection between teachers and students.

Teaching with the WebQuest method has 4 steps:

• The task is assigned through the WebQuest.
• Students carry out the task by following the guide on the page.
• Students submit a final report of their results.
• The teacher sums up, organizes and clarifies the main points of the lesson.

Lecture-presentation method

It is an effective way to build students' presentation skills. Active teaching methods has 3 main steps: Prepare, carry out, evaluate. Specifically:

• The teacher gives students materials, instructions and the goals of the presentation. 
• Students are encouraged to research, organize and present information creatively. 
• During the presentation, students speak in front of the class.
• The teacher and the other students observe and note strengths and weaknesses. 
• Together they give feedback and comments and suggest ways to improve the presentation.

Some advantages of this presentation teaching method are:

• Lesson information is delivered clearly and in an organized way.
• Students understand and remember information better.
• It improves concentration.
• It develops communication skills and confidence in speaking to a crowd.

Learning corners method

Fhis is a modern teaching method in which the teacher helps students build self-management and self-study skills through hands-on activities and by finding knowledge from many different sources.

Active teaching with learning corners helps students choose the way of learning that suits their needs and interests: practice, exploration, creativity, reading comprehension, application and experience.

For example, when teaching topics related to the environment or traffic, the teacher can set up learning corners using materials such as pens, drawings, books and newspapers, videos and discussion groups.

Here are some advantages of this method:

• It encourages students to take the lead in learning.
• It develops time management skills.
• It strengthens interaction and support among teammates.
• It improves problem-solving skills.

Game method

This is a is a teaching method that uses educational activities with an entertaining quality. It is designed in the form of games, with clear goals, rules and rewards to draw students into the learning process.

The advantages of active teaching through games are:

• It improves students' concentration while they learn.
• It creates chances to develop social skills such as teamwork, communication and conflict resolution.
• It develops independence and self-management.
• It creates a positive learning environment that keeps students interested and raises their enthusiasm for learning.

When running games, teachers need to pay attention to these points: 

• Organize and run the game simply.
• Fit it to the lesson content and to each student's traits and abilities. 
• After each activity, let students discuss so they see the educational meaning of the game.

Case study method

This active teaching approach is also popular. The teacher uses real cases so students take part in solving problems and understand real-world issues better.

The case study method brings benefits such as:  

• It develops analytical skills.
• It strengthens self-study, self-management and confidence.
• It develops language, thinking, creativity and problem-solving skills.
• It broadens practical knowledge.

The most effective active teaching techniques

A suitable active teaching method will boost thinking and creativity and raise learners' skills. But teachers also need deep expertise and good teaching technique. Below are 4 active teaching techniques that international teachers use most effectively:

Active teaching technique: mind maps

Mind map is a tool that supports active teaching, helping students organize and connect knowledge visually and logically.

This mind map teaching technique can be used in many different teaching activities:

• Planning and sketching out a plan and background information.
• Discussing and working with other students.
• Summing up and evaluating with completed diagrams.

The specific pros and cons of the mind map method are:

Kipling technique (5W1H)

This is the is a questioning technique based on 5W1H: What, Who, Where, When, Why, How. This technique can help teachers design active teaching activities, encourage students to take part in learning and build research skills.

The pros and cons of the Kipling active teaching technique are:

"Think, Pair, Share" technique

The "Think, Pair, Share" active teaching technique was introduced in 1981 by Professor Frank Lyman of the University of Maryland. In this technique, instead of using teaching aids, students build listening and speaking skills as well as individual thinking when solving a problem.

This technique, used in active teaching methods, has three steps: think, pair and share. In detail:

• In the first step, the teacher poses a question or a problem related to the lesson
• Next, students think about the answer or solution for a set amount of time.
• Each pair of students discusses together and presents their views to the class or to another small group.

The pros and cons of the "Think, Pair, Share" technique are:

KWL (KWLH) teaching technique

The KWL teaching technique was developed by Donna Ogle in 1968. It is originally a way of organizing teaching around reading comprehension. Learners start by thinking about and writing down what they already know about the lesson topic, and this goes in column K (what we know) of the chart.

Next, learners write down what they want to understand better about the topic in column W (what we want to learn) and find the answers themselves to fill in column W, then present column L (What we learn).

This technique also adds a column H (How can we learn more) to guide the students' own research.

The KWL (KWLH) teaching technique helps students activate prior knowledge, set learning goals and assess their own learning. The technique has four steps:

• K (Know) – List what students already know about the topic.
• W (Want to know) – Students set questions or learning goals.
• L (Learn) – Take part in learning activities to find and process information about the topic.
• H (How) – Assess their own learning process.

The advantages and drawbacks of KWL teaching are:

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Conditions for applying active teaching methods

For active teaching to work, schools, teachers, students and textbooks all play an important part and need to meet the following criteria:

The teacher's role

Teachers act as guides, advisors and companions to students while they learn. To teach actively, teachers need to:

• Use a variety of teaching methods that engage learners.
• Have both theoretical and practical knowledge.
• Improve communication and interaction skills and the ability to handle situations.
• Be flexible, creative and proactive in adjusting lessons to students' needs and circumstances.
• Overcome the difficulties and challenges of teaching.

The student's role

Students play a key role in active teaching methods , because they learn to be self-driven and build their own personal qualities. When they work with their teachers, students can:

• Learn to adapt better to new approaches.
• Strengthen the habit of studying on their own.
• Be clearer about their learning goals.
• Take responsibility as a team in classroom activities.

The school's role

Applying active teaching methods effectively is one of the school's duties, so it can offer a modern education to future generations and contribute to its own teaching foundation:

• Create a safe, friendly learning environment.
• Train teachers and build up their skills.
• Design and carry out suitable active teaching activities.
• Assess and give feedback on students' learning process and results.
• Join professional learning networks.

The textbook's role

One problem in education today is that textbooks carry too much knowledge, so students study a lot without understanding the essentials. Active teaching, together with a new method, helps teachers fix this by encouraging students to be active and take the lead.

FAQ

1. What are modern teaching methods?

Modern teaching methods (active teaching) are another name for active teaching methods. They differ from traditional teaching in aiming to make students more active in thinking, reacting and acting.

With these modern methods, the teacher is only a guide who prompts, opens up questions, organizes debate and sums up the knowledge. Learners have to look for information, analyze, practice and present their own views.

2. What does it mean to teach in a way that activates learners?

Teaching that activates learners turns teaching into a process of self-education. It moves learning from being taught to studying independently, while combining personalization with the social side of learning.

The goal is to train people who work independently, are dynamic and creative, can solve real problems, and can keep learning and creating on their own in the future.

3. What are the features of active teaching methods?

Active teaching methods have clear strengths, typically:

• Teaching through students' own activities
• Focus on building self-study skills
• More individual learning combined with cooperative learning, where students help each other grow.
• Teacher assessment is combined with students' self-assessment; learners are free to think for themselves, and the teacher only steers and instructs.

4. What are the pros and cons of active teaching?

Active teaching methods have the following strengths and limits:

Pros:

• Strong focus on building practical skills
• Improves thinking, initiative, creativity and flexibility in handling situations.
• Builds and strengthens confidence through discussion and critique.

Limitation:

• There are fewer lectures and more emphasis on guidance, ways of thinking and student initiative, so learners who don't pay attention will find the lesson hard to follow.
• It needs facilities and teaching equipment that haven't received much attention. In Vietnam, many schools and teachers can't apply this method yet because they lack these requirements.

We hope the information that MONA Media has shared above helps schools and teachers choose the active teaching methods that fits best and apply it well in their teaching. That in turn helps education improve and take in more new knowledge.