Active Learning by Innovation in Teaching (Alit)

Abstract

Today more than ever before, the future depends on students’ ability to apply the knowledge they learn in the classroom to solve real life problems such as global warming, climate change, air pollution, waste disposal, energy generation, world poverty and food production. In the incessantly changing world, students of the twenty-first century are very different from the students of the past. This requires educators to think continuously about how to change their teaching to empower and engage modern students, which makes educational innovations imminent. Contemporary students must be proactive in seeking relevant information and applying it to solve real life problems. However, the way we teach hasn’t changed sufficiently to reflect these changes. Like in the earlier centuries, the dominant pedagogy in many contemporary science classrooms is still teacher-centered instruction, relying on route memorization and passive learning. To help science educators make a transition from passive to active learning in order to engage students in meaningful learning process, “Active Learning by Innovation in Teaching” (ALIT) model is introduced. This model offers a way of finding different approaches to engage students in meaningful science learning and apply their knowledge to solve real life problems.