Active learning: its role in health sciences libraries

Active learning is a method of instruction which involves the students/attendees in the learning process by having them participate and reflect on that experience. It is a process which has received much publicity in the educational literature and is being incorporated in many fields within the health sciences. Health sciences librarians are beginning to incorporate active learning into instruction sessions, and a number of techniques being used in other settings could also be adopted. Examples are offered for using active learning in teaching the use of indexes, end-user database searching, Internet navigation, and problem-based learning.