First stage: Trigger. Following the constructivist
perspective, the objective of this stage is to introduce a
topic with a worthwhile assignment in a non-traditional
fashion (Brooks and Brooks 1999). For this purpose, the
students are challenged by an active learning based trigger,
an open-end activity of a kind with which is new to the
students.
Specifically, a trigger should enhance and foster meaningful learning and should have the potential to raise a wide array of questions, dilemmas, attitudes and perceptions. Following Newman et al. (2003), we recommend that a trigger should be realistically complex and relevant for the students.