At Cairn, we believe that learners construct their own understanding from the experiences they have had in science and that specific factors support or impede this process. It is our mission, as science educators, to provide our students with a dynamic, collaborative process interacting with objects, ideas, and others to individually construct a deep understanding of the science knowledge the need to excel in a STEM field.

Active Learning. The learner constructs understanding; therefore, the learner must be active in learning (Chickering & Gamson, 1987). Rather than a particular formula, active learning is used to describe a range of learning activities promoting students’ active consideration of the ideas at hand (Bonwell & Eison, 1991). They must read, write, discuss, or be engaged in solving problems. Most important, to be actively involved, students must engage in such higher-order thinking tasks as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Within this context, it is proposed that strategies promoting active learning be defined as instructional activities involving students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing. (Bonwell & Eison, 1991, p. 5). Bonwell and Eison (1991) reported that active learning has been found to lead to better student active learning, surpasses lecture in student retention of material, motivation of students for further study and developing thinking skills in students.