Using active learning strategies in teaching criminology: A personal account

Seminars and workshops on active learning techniques are being held at many universities. This essay compares traditional classroom interaction with the new active learning approach and offers a personal account of one instructor's attempts to introduce the active learning method within a criminology curriculum. Small group interaction, weekly written assignments, and student's editing of papers are discussed. Overall the instructor found that students responded positively to the new approaches and that their examination and paper grades improved.