Learning by Doing Catches On

Faculty and students praised activity-based learning (ABL) at an event at the Phillips Brooks House yesterday, saying the approach can bridge the divide between theory and practice in the Harvard curriculum.

Also known as “Praxis Pedagogy,” ABL uses experiences outside the classroom to enrich student learning. Currently featured in about 13 undergraduate courses, ABL has been recommended as an integral part of the general education reforms that will replace the current Core Curriculum.

“[ABL] helps you learn outside of the classroom in a way you can’t get from a book,” said Antonio Pino ’10, who taught Italian to elementary school students in Italian 60, “Italian and the Community.” “ABL is something that is at the core of the success of an education.”

The event was cosponsored by the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Standing Committee on Public Service, the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA), and the Public Service Network.

The meeting featured presentations by Lisa Boes, a research officer at the Bok Center, and Annie Riley ’07, a Social Studies concentrator, both of whom emphasized the program’s promise and benefits to students.

Boes drew from her May 2006 Graduate School of Education doctoral dissertation, in which she examined how the ABL program had affected undergraduates in a Social Studies junior tutorial. The course, “Practicing Democracy: Leadership, Community, Power,” required that students work on an “organizing project” such as a get-out-the-vote campaign.

Boes concluded that in connecting experience and theory, ABL had challenged students’ “assumptions about the nature and sources of knowledge.”

Riley, who interviewed 30 students in seven ABL courses for her senior thesis, found that the ABL program had given students a “sense of purpose beyond grades,” fostered community among the students, and contextualized the classroom material.

But Riley said courses must be explicitly designed around ABL to avoid a “mis-educative” disconnect.

Also speaking was Anya Bernstein, the director of undergraduate studies in Social Studies, who said she supports the formation of a FAS committee to further develop ABL in the curriculum.

Several undergraduates who spoke at the event offered glowing personal accounts of their courses.

“Finally, my academics and extracurriculars make sense,” said Angelico Razon ‘08, the current president of PBHA, who took “Sociology 96j: Research for Nonprofits” this year.

Diker-Tishman Professor of Sociology Christopher Winship, who is currently teaching Sociology 19, also praised the ABL program while emphasizing the need for further refinements.

“I think we still have a lot of experimentation to do...but so far everybody seems positive,” he said. “We need to create an environment that still allows for innovation.”