Exploring Active Learning Theories, Practices, and Contexts

摘要

Education has evolved. From Sophists lecturing to their students centuries ago to instructors lecturing to their students a few short decades ago, school learning has largely consisted of passive activity of listening and processing. While that form of pedagogy-transmitting knowledge from the instructor to the student-may have inspired others in the past, modern pedagogy shows that students learn differently and better retain knowledge which they gain actively, rather than passively. This is especially true of today's traditional students. Bar-Yam, Rhoades, Sweeney, Kaput, and Yam (2002) maintain that teaching takes two forms: convergent and divergent. Convergent teaching refers to highly structured action and focuses the teacher transmitting knowledge (teacher-centered). Divergent teaching makes the students active participants in the knowledge process (student-centered). Research has demonstrated that higher student achievement and engagement stems from active learning (Bunce, Flens, & Neiles, 2010; Carlson & Winquist, 2011; Freeman et al., 2004; McDermott et al., 2014). However, Smith and Valentine (2012) purport that instructors in face-to-face (and often in online) courses still employ didactic teaching methods even though research has determined that active learning provides learners a deeper understanding of the information.