39 Choose Strategies for Active Learning

Now that you have identified what you need to learn, you need to make a plan for how to learn and to put it into practice. The best kind of learning is active learning. When you learn actively, you apply a variety of strategies to your course material, including reading, writing, reflecting, solving problems, organizing material visually, self-testing, and working with others.

Active learning requires you to choose a method to process and recall the material you are working to master. Some activities that promote active learning are:

• Using flash cards.
• Making a visual organizer that summarizes key chapter concepts, such as a mindmap or chart.
• Organizing key ideas into a new chart.
• Answering questions or creating a practice test.
• Working with a study partner or group.
• Writing about the material you are learning.
• Using the list of THINK TANK’s Active Study Strategies.

Everyone learns differently. There’s no wrong way to do active studying—some methods just fit certain people or subjects better than others. See what works best for you!

Not only is active learning a more engaging and fun way to study, it also allows you to use your study time more effectively. Contrast this with an activity like re-reading a textbook or notes multiple times, which is a more passive way to learn.  Though you may be seeing the material, you are not engaging in an activity that requires you to store the information in your memory, and to practice retrieving it.^[1]

As with everything, time management even plays a role in your studying! Hopefully, you have been using the Weekly Planner [PDF] and the SOAP [PDF] already. Once you make your schedule for the week and see when you have time to study and work on projects, then you can organize the materials you will need, you can prioritize what needs to happen each day, and you can choose your method for studying/working on assignments. If you have large assignments, you can break them down into smaller chunks to make them easier (and less time consuming) to accomplish. Once you’re ready to begin, you can use something like the Pomodoro Technique to break up your study time so you take care of yourself while you’re taking care of your school work.

For some tips on what strategies might help in certain situations, please see the THINK TANK list of Active Study Strategies [PDF] for different materials that you might need to study. If you’re feeling frustrated, make an appointment with your Instructor or TA, or your THINK TANK Academic Coach, and they will likely be able to help you figure out a better way to study for that particular subject.

License & Attribution

Adapted from University 101: Study, Strategize and Succeed © 2018 by Kwantlen Polytechnic University, which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. Any changes made to the original chapter may be found in the Appendix.