Active learning

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Active learning, as the name suggests, is a process whereby learners are actively engaged in the learning process. This process is often contrasted against the "passivity" which occurs when observing a lecture.

We may watch and listen to others, but ultimately we learn by doing things on our own. Active involvement is what sparks learning processes and generates knowledge. Our mind is not a passive receiver of stimuli coming from the outside world; it is autonomously active. The stimulus (i.e., a change in external conditions) does not cause a process in an otherwise inert system; it only modifies pre-existent processes. It is information what can be transfered from one mind to another, not knowledge.

Information can, of course, trigger far-reaching consequences, but only by bringing about structural changes in our minds. The problem with that acquisition of structure is that it doesn't happen for free; it must be paid for with the experience of contingency; it involves taking on risks. Learning makes the world more complex. After a certain point, we all tend to put limits to the possibility of more learning. We do that by a concession of freedom. To reduce the complexity of our world we put a distance between our surroundings and ourselves and accept being "determined" by others. As individuals, and in fact as parties to exchanges within social systems, we have an existence of our own that draws self-expression limits with precision. These limits exclude learning possibilities.

Knowledge is not only an outcome, but also the condition for and a regulator of more learning. We can, of course, be informed on how to proceed on our learning path, but that, at its best, will be mere information. Only in learning something will one learn to learn as well.

1 Active learning methods
2 Active versus passive learning
3 What supports the adoption of active learning methods
4 What difficults the adoption of active learning methods
5 See also
6 Selected References
7 External links

[edit] Active learning methods

Active learning refers specifically to the teaching-learning process that focuses on the planning, implementation and evaluation of learning activities where learners are assumed primary responsibility for their own learning.

PBL (project-based learning) and TBL (team-based learning) are the two main references often associated with active learning. Project-Based learning is structured around the need to produce something (a product or performance) or the need to find a solution to a real problem. Team-Based learning emphasizes collaborative work in autonomous teams. While the first approach is outcome oriented, leaving the process "open", the second is process focused, more "tolerant" to the diversity of possible outcomes. In both methods (PBL or TBL) learning is, essentially, learner driven.

Adopting active learning does not mean, however, following highly structured methods, like PBL or TBL, or even eliminating the basic lecture format. Activities that encourage students' self-directed learning can be incorporated into the teaching plan through carefully constructed activities which range from "buzz groups," in which pairs of students discuss material during a calculated pause in a lecture, to role-playing, to debate, to case study, to group cooperative learning, short written exercises, polling the class, etc.

In fact, absolute independence and strict passivity are both impossible. These extremes are the improbable ends of a teaching-learning continuum, at one end of which is passive [directed] learning and at the other facilitated [self-directed] learning.

[edit] Active versus passive learning

The traditional [passive] pedagogical model of instruction was originally developed in the monastic schools of Europe in the Middle Ages. Young boys were received into the monasteries and taught by monks according to a system of instruction that required these children to be obedient, faithful, and efficient servants of the church. That kind of approach, which later spread to the secular schools of Europe and America and became (and has still remained) the dominant form of instruction, or teacher-directed instruction as it is commonly known, places the student in a submissive role requiring obedience to the teacher's instructions. The result is a teaching and learning situation that actively promotes dependency on the instructor. Active learning, on the contrary, proposes a move from dependency to independency (or self-directedness); accepts direct experience as a basis on which to build learning; associates the readiness to learn with the developmental tasks of social roles; shifts the relevant time frame of application from postponed to immediacy; and moves curricular perspective from subject-centeredness to performance-centeredness. Pratice (and Research) shows that active learning results in longer-term recall, synthesis, and problem-solving skills than learning by hearing, reading, or watching.^{[citation needed]}

This does not imply that passive teaching is bad and active teaching is good. Some dependent learners can even become excellent students within a specialized area; they can be systematic, thorough, and disciplined, mastering a settled subject or transmitting a fixed tradition.

Passive teaching is bad only when it is used to perpetuate dependency or applied in the wrong context (when, for example, the teaching style is not matched to the learner's degree of self-direction). There is nothing inherently demeaning or destructive in pedagogical, temporarily dependent, relationships. They can be the bridges to prepare pupils for higher levels of achievement and self-direction. All learners can become temporarily dependent in the face of new topics.

However, if being dependent is not a defect it can be a serious limitation. It's very important to understand the real value of pupils taking more responsibility for directing their own learning efforts.

[edit] What supports the adoption of active learning methods

Knowledge is now, and will continue to be, the most indispensable commodity to sustain the productive ability of a country. Learning has become the major stake in the competition for dominance (or for survival) in a globalized 'world economy'. Many nation-states are already fighting for knowledge and learning power, just as they battled in the past for control over territory. Countries will depend, each day more, on the skills of thinking, experimental inquiry, collaboration, creativity, innovation, and endless learning of its citizens.

The main purpose of education will tend to be the development of self-actualizing persons. For that, teaching-learning processes ought to move from a learning-by-telling model to a learning-by-doing model.

[edit] What difficults the adoption of active learning methods

Despite beeing required a move from passivity to activity, many teachers are still unprepared or unwilling to try other methods such as active learning. They still view passive learning as acceptable and useful.

Active involvement cannot be forced. Active teachers cannot embark on "imposing" their approach on colleagues or groups of colleagues whose perceptions of reality (particularly with regard to individuality, autonomy, and personal responsibility) run contrary to theirs. However, they must feel obligated to share their views with such people to promote awareness of alternative ways of thinking, communicating and acting in school. They must not be naïve, either. Focus on teacher-facilitated learning cannot solve in itself the problem of teaching the already resistant, chronically dependent, people. Many pupils (and teachers) are now (and will remain) passive and dependent upon being taught (and directed). Others will certainly resist any learner-centered method. A few will become defiant, or defiantly indifferent.

Admirers of strong mother or father figures, with an overprotective or authoritarian style, will continue to exist in schools. Dependent people will always need an authority figure to give them explicit directions on what to do, how to do it and when. However, as it is probably obvious to anyone, hardly can such kind of relationships favour people (students or teachers) progressing to greater levels of autonomy and responsibility (i. e., growing up).

For dependent students, learning is, and will continue to be, teacher-centered. They either will treat teachers as experts, who know what the student needs to do, or they will passively slide through the educational system, responding mainly to teachers who "force" them to learn.

Dependent learners will certainly test active learning teachers with overt or veiled challenges to their authority. They need a hierarchy so they can place themselves confortably (i.e., passively) at the bottom. They dont like the uncertainty associated with choices; they feel insecure in a context where compliance is not what is going to be rewarded; they feel anxious if communication is not mainly one-way.

Active teachers can't be too nice about it. If they are, passive students will dismiss them as soft. They will try to take advantage of their tolerance or they will lapse into self-defeating habits of non-learning. Many passive learners depend on teachers to make decisions they themselves will later certainly learn to make. Active teachers must not be shy of accepting that role. Teacher expertise and effectiveness are the key in dealing with dependent learners.

[edit] See also

Educational technology
Peer instruction
Instructional strategies
Learning by teaching

[edit] Selected References

Chickering, Arthur W., and Zelda F. Gamson. March 1987. "Seven Principles for Good Practice." AAHE Bulletin 39: 3-7. ED 282 491. 6 pp. MF-01; PC-01.
Cochran, Leslie H. 1989. Administrative Commitment to Teaching. Cape Girardeau, Mo.: Step Up, Inc, ISBN 0-963-14380-8.
Hyman, Ronald T. 1980. Improving Discussion Leadership. New York: Columbia Univ., Teachers College Press, ISBN 0-137-92607-3.
Lorenzen, Michael. 2001. Active Learning and Library Instruction. Illinois Libraries, 83, no. 2: 19-24.
Lowman, Joseph. 1984. Mastering the Techniques of Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, ISBN 0-787-95568-X.
McKeachie, Wilbert J., Paul R. Pintrich, Yi-Guang Lin, and David A.F. Smith. 1986. Teaching and Learning in the College Classroom: A Review of the Research Literature. Ann Arbor: Regents of The Univ. of Michigan. ED 314 999. 124 pp. MF-01; PC-05.
Penner, Jon G. 1984. Why Many College Teachers Cannot Lecture. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C. Thomas, ISBN 0-398-04936-X.
Ruhl, Kathy L., Charles A. Hughes, and Patrick J. Schloss. Winter 1987. "Using the Pause Procedure to Enhance Lecture Recall." Teacher Education and Special Education 10: 14-18.
Skinner, Joddy. 1993. Learning by Teaching at the University. In English Teaching Forum, Otober 1993, 40 – 41.