Silent Students in the Active Learning Classroom

Abstract

This chapter presents research which addresses several questions about implementing immersive active learning approaches in General Chemistry. First, we discuss the content needed to support active learning classes, built on the concept of constructivism. Second, we compare two different immersive active learning approaches in terms of the performance of students in each. Third, we discuss performance gaps of students who remain silent during class discussions relative to their vocal peers. Finally, we discuss our research on the motivations and challenges for these silent students as a means to address the performance gaps.