Active learning

The typical classroom is headed by a teacher standing in front of a group of students whose desks are arranged in neat rows. The teacher’s job is to lecture; the students’ job is to sit and listen. The students are learning the day’s lesson—or are they?

That people learn in multiple ways has been known for many years. In the late twentieth century, an increasing number of educators began questioning the prevailing lecture model of teaching. “Active learning” became a buzz phrase in the 1980s, and in 1984, a report by the US Department of Education titled Involvement in Learning: Realizing the Potential of American Higher Education urged educators to emphasize “active modes of teaching and learning.” Several years later, in their 1991 book Active Learning, Charles Bonwell and James Eison defined “active learning” as “anything that ‘involves students doing things and thinking about the things they are doing.’”

Overview

As a teaching method, active learning has a distinguished history. Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746–1827) often spoke of “learning by head, hand, and heart” in his experimental schools for impoverished children in his native Switzerland. German educator Friedrich Froebel (1782–1852) advocated the use of special toys for very young children and coined the term “kindergarten.” Maria Montessori (1870–1952), in her role as codirector of Rome's Scuola Magistrale Ortofrenica (Orthophrenic School) for children with cognitive disabilities, advocated allowing students to use specially designed objects to learn mathematics and other subjects through discovery; she also infused learning with physical exercises and songs. Many of Montessori's students, who were originally deemed ineducable, passed the exams administered to regular students, and her methods were adapted for general student populations. John Dewey (1859–1952), in his classic work Democracy and Education (1916), stressed the importance of hands-on learning, or learning through experience. Polish pediatrician, educator, and writer Janusz Korczak (1879–1942) involved the students at his orphanage in a variety of active exercises, from his children’s court to the student newspaper he inspired. In 1983, Harvard University psychiatrist Howard Gardner published his theory of multiple intelligences, in which he identified seven different types of intelligence: verbal-linguistic, visual-spatial, logical-mathematical, musical-rhythmic, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal (the ability to relate to others), and intrapersonal (self-awareness). To these, he later added naturalistic intelligence and existential intelligence.

Active learning involves students working on their own or in groups. According to Bonwell and Eison, teachers who want to promote active learning should focus less on transmitting information to students and more on developing students’ skills. Students should be encouraged to pursue “higher-order thinking,” such as “analysis, synthesis, and evaluation” of information, and to “explor[e] . . . their own attitudes and values” through such activities as writing and discussion. Individual student activities may include using physical objects (e.g., marbles, play money, rods and cubes) to solve mathematical problems, writing in a journal, or teaching a lesson to their classmates. Group activities are also effective. Although cooperative learning had been discussed throughout the twentieth century, it was the work of educational psychologists Robert Slavin and David W. Johnson and education professor Roger T. Johnson that first discussed this pedagogy in detail, forming the basis for much subsequent research. Ideas for specific activities can be found in many books, journals, and websites.

Active learning remained in continued use in early-twenty first century classrooms, with educators praising its ability to promote student engagement. It has also been found to benefit science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields greatly, while also being impactful for students who come from disadvantaged learning backgrounds. However, experts noted that active learning lessons should be easily accessible for students to better accommodate wide levels of classroom involvement.

Bibliography

"Active Learning." Boston University Center for Teaching and Learning, www.bu.edu/ctl/ctl‗resource/active-learning-teaching-guide/. Accessed 17 Oct. 2024.

Bonwell, Charles C., and James A. Eison. Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom. Washington: George Washington U, School of Educ. and Human Dev., 1991. Print.

Drew, Valerie, and Lorele Mackie. “Extending the Constructs of Active Learning: Implications for Teachers’ Pedagogy and Practice.” Curriculum Journal 22.4 (2011): 451–67. Print.

Himmele, Pérsida, and William Himmele. Total Participation Techniques: Making Every Student an Active Learner. Alexandria: ASCD, 2011. Print.

Johnson, David W., and Roger T. Johnson. Learning Together and Alone: Cooperative, Competitive, and Individualistic Learning. 5th ed. Needham Heights: Allyn, 1999. Print.

Lambert, Craig. "Twilight of the Lecture." Harvard Magazine. Harvard Mag., Mar.–Apr. 2012. Web. 10 July 2015.

"Module 4: Selecting Teaching and Learning Activities." Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology. Illinois State U, n.d. Web. 10 July 2015.

Rutherford, Paula. Active Learning and Engagement Strategies. Alexandria: Just Ask, 2012. Print.

"School Organization: Full Report." Center for Public Education. Center for Public Educ., 4 Sept. 2008. Web. 10 July 2015.

Slavin, Robert E. Cooperative Learning: Theory, Research, and Practice. 2nd ed. Needham Heights: Allyn, 1995. Print.

Stephen, Christine, Jennifer Ellis, and Joan Martlew. “Taking Active Learning into the Primary School: A Matter of New Practices?” International Journal of Early Years Education 18.4 (2010): 315–29. Print.

United States. Dept. of Educ. Natl. Inst. of Educ. Study Group on the Conditions of Excellence in Amer. Higher Educ. Involvement in Learning: Realizing the Potential of American Higher Education. Washington: Dept. of Educ., 1984. Print.

Zmuda, Allison. “Springing into Active Learning.” Educational Leadership 66.3 (2008): 38–42. Print.