The Active Learning Course Framework (ALCF). Three learning environments—the lecture, the lab, and the online learning environment—provide the time and space to support the ALCF. The three environments are linked through the actions of the teaching team and the use of technology depicted in the diagram as small circles. The active-learning mission of the ALCF is represented as the center circle of the ALCF diagram. Within the ALCF, active learning is designed to engage students in activities valuable to a research scientist; these activities are in the first ring, growing from the central circle. To place the activities within a context, to provide meaning to the students, and to serve as a pedagogical link, the ALCF employs case studies and associated problems (which we refer to as PAK problems, for participation/applied knowledge problems). The animated version of Figure 1 shows how the course environments come together to support the active-learning mission of the ALCF, the connecting role of the teaching team and technology, as well as the role of various active-learning strategies: Just in Time Teaching (JITT; Marrs and Novak, 2004), Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL; PLTL Workshop Project, 2004), techniques such as Think-Pair-Share (T-P-S; Allen and Tanner, 2002), Inquiry labs (Handelsman et al., 2004), and problem-based learning (PBL; Allen, 1996).