Active learning redux

[Hibush]

As a music and dance teacher, as well as art history and French (in which I involve music and dance elements), I'm always bemused at the "active" thing.

Everything I and my students do is active learning.

Ditto the folk dance class I just took (a college-linked group that is also open to local interested folks since it's online/hybrid and we pay a fee).

Youse guys is too sedentary, is all...

;--}

M.

"Dance your thesis" is a fun concept, but is it too little to late? Should be use it more? We might do well to incorporate interpretive dance into the committee meetings each semester for all fields of study.

More directly, are there people who teach dance or dance history where students only see drawings or perhaps videos of various ideas but  don't try them out physically?

[mythbuster]

Thing hilarious thing about the "active" movement in science is that it is a totally separate discussion from having labs. Labs are be definition where you go to DO the science. But, labs are resource and people intensive. Big schools have moved to online labs at the intro level for the sake of expediency. They are boring and then lots of students fail or drop out. So the entire discussion of "active learning" is NOT about having more or better labs, but rather about changing what we doing in a lecture hall of 500.

[marshwiggle]

Thing hilarious thing about the "active" movement in science is that it is a totally separate discussion from having labs. Labs are be definition where you go to DO the science. But, labs are resource and people intensive. Big schools have moved to online labs at the intro level for the sake of expediency. They are boring and then lots of students fail or drop out. So the entire discussion of "active learning" is NOT about having more or better labs, but rather about changing what we doing in a lecture hall of 500.

To be fair, labs have virtually never been about learning *theory; they are often used just to illustrate theoretical concepts. A minority of the time they're primarily about learning the research process. (There's some learning about using apparatus, equipment, software, etc., but none of that requires theory to be taught in the labs.)

(* Yes, there are some extremely expensive and resource-intensive systems, particularly in physics, to teach concepts in the lab, but they're by far the exception due to the expense.)

[mamselle]

Actually, one of my language exams was in dance.

I was given a set of goals for a piece (the "Wie Lieblich from the Brahms Requiem), worked with the (auditioned, very capable) group to create the choreography, and had it performed in a worship service (my work being primarily liturgical dance).

It passed.

M.