Applied active learning in STEM using a strategic session in an occupational health and safety course

Introduction Strategic sessions are widely used in business and public administration to address open-ended problems, yet they remain underexplored as a teaching method in higher education. Methods This study reports a pedagogical experiment adapting the strategic session format as a reproducible active learning approach in an undergraduate Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) course, representing a STEM-related field. The activity was implemented as a team-based online session involving 36 undergraduate students. Working in assigned teams, students progressed through predefined stages of information gathering, brainstorming, problem analysis, and stakeholder negotiation, designed to support structured discussion of applied OHS problems. Engagement and learning-related perceptions were collected through student surveys, moderator observations, and measures of participation, and analyzed using qualitative and quantitative methods. Results Results showed that 89% of students reported high or maximum engagement of their peers, consistent with moderator evaluations. The structured design and role allocation supported collaborative discussion and the application of theoretical OHS concepts to practice-oriented problems. Discussion Students reported perceived gains in discipline-specific knowledge, such as understanding occupational risks, regulatory requirements, and preventive strategies, as well as transferable competencies, including teamwork, problem-solving, and argumentation. Strategic sessions are presented as a reproducible active learning format for STEM-related courses.