This paper looks at an activity that breaks the normal classroom teaching pattern (where students are often content to be reluctant, inactive participants in the learning process) with an activity that is likely a new experience for most students--letting the students create and solve their own problems. This is done within a problem structure that allows students to see the framework for the needed information (regardless of the actual numbers) and then allows students to insert their own numbers into the framework and then solve the problem. Not only did this activity create a more interactive, active learning atmosphere during class time where students were much more responsive than usual, students also had more after-class questions than usual since they were asking questions about their own personally-developed problem as opposed to one developed by someone else. While applicable to many subject areas, the topic of standard costing variance analysis is used in this paper. In addition, an example from using this active learning approach in a principles of accounting class is presented.