Active Learning
I have been a teacher for over twenty years and one of the points I have always stressed to my students when it comes to studying, is that a multi-directional approach is best for creating lasting memory. I mentioned aspects of this in the article titled There is more than one way. There is a study methodology called Active Learning that emphasizes exactly this concept.
The website Smart Sparrow defines active learning as “any learning activity in which the student participates or interacts with the learning process, as opposed to passively taking in the information.” Active learning creates a more in-depth learning process by involving multiple neural connections in the brain to stimulate long term memory. Imagine a large filing cabinet loaded with all of the material you are wishing to remember. Now place this filing cabinet in a warehouse with thousands of other filing cabinets. Would it be better to have only one way, one path, for you to find this particular filing cabinet amongst the thousands or do you think it would be better to have multiple pathways created for you to be able to find the exact filing cabinet you are looking for? Obviously, the more pathways the easier it will be for you to access the information you wish to find. This is essentially what active learning does.
Here are some examples to help you see the differences between passive and active learning:
| Passive Learning | Active Learning |
| Flashcards | Explaining material in your own words, speak it aloud |
| Writing notes | Formulate and write down your own questions as you read |
| Rewriting your notes | Relate theories to real life examples |
| Highlighting material | Develop a concept map or flow chart to explain information |
| Reviewing the highlighted material | Participate in group discussions and study groups |
| Reading a chapter | Teach the material to another person |
These are just a sampling of examples of both passive and active learning, but it clearly illustrates the difference between the two styles. It is not that passive learning is bad, it is more to say that passive learning alone will not create the depth of recall that the student is wanting to create. Blending passive and active learning would be the ideal approach.