Frequently used Active Learning Techniques and Their Impact: a Critical Review of Existing Journal Literature in the United States

This article examines the ‘lessons’ from the most recent Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research in political science that appears in three North American academic journals. The article focuses on the literature that examines the effectiveness of ‘active learning’ classroom techniques. Although the most commonly used technique to promote active learning is the in-class simulation, the evidence on the effectiveness of simulations is decidedly mixed. The article continues by exploring other available, but often ignored, active learning classroom techniques.