Active Learning Classrooms and Social Context: Changing Relationships to Improve Learning

Research indicates that the social context of teaching and learning affects the student learning experience as well as student learning outcomes. New learning spaces have the potential to alter social context in constructive ways, in particular the relationships among students themselves but also between students and instructors and between students and course materials and content. We will describe the validation and testing of an instrument designed to measure changes in social context, along with preliminary results and suggestions for future research in this area.

OUTCOMES: Outcomes: Understand the motivation for investigating mechanisms and moderators of the effects of active learning classrooms * Recognize the importance of social context for teaching and learning, particularly in new learning spaces * Consider conducting your own investigation of changes in social context related to learning space design