Benefits of active learning explored in new podcast episode

“Closing Achievement Gaps,” a new episode of the “What Makes Us Human?” podcast series, examines how active learning helps students succeed. The podcast’s fifth season – “What Do We Know about Inequality?” – showcases the newest thinking across academic disciplines about inequality.

“For those who went to a poorly funded high school, which is too often the case for first-generation students and under-represented minorities, active learning can level the playing field, allowing them to close achievement gaps,” says Peter Lepage, Goldwin Smith Professor of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences and director of Cornell’s Active Learning Initiative in his podcast.

Lepage studies QCD, the modern theory that explains how protons and neutrons are put together and interact with each other in the nucleus. His other research interests include high-precision atomic physics, nuclear physics, and most recently physics pedagogy. He has served as chair of physics and for ten years as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

The “What Makes Us Human?” podcast is produced by the College of Arts and Sciences in collaboration with the Cornell Broadcast Studios and features audio essays written and recorded by Cornell faculty. New episodes are released each Thursday through the spring semester, airing on WHCU and WVBR.

The episodes are also available for download on iTunes and SoundCloud and for streaming on the A&S humanities page, where text versions of the essays are also posted.