The active learning It is a type of teaching in which the teacher tries to involve students directly in the process of acquiring knowledge. There are different types depending on the degree of involvement of the students, but in all of them they have to do something more than simply listen passively.
Active learning is opposed to most classical teaching methods, as the maximum exponent of which is receptive (in which students receive information without having to do anything). It also differs from other processes such as memorization, or meaningful learning, although it may have a certain relationship with the latter.
Through an active learning process, students can acquire both knowledge, skills and attitudes. Due to this, it is one of the most complete processes of this type that exist. In addition, various studies affirm that it is the most useful way for students to be able to consolidate their new learning.
To carry out this process correctly, students have to carry out actions such as analyzing the information presented to them, evaluating data and results, generating a synthesis of what they learn ... Thus, they are involved both by performing tasks and thinking about what they want to learn.
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In most teaching methods, it is the teacher or teacher who is responsible for learning. Generally, it is assumed that the educator is the one who possesses the knowledge, so his task is to transmit it to the students in the most efficient way possible..
In active learning, these roles are reversed. Students have to be able to generate their own knowledge by performing tasks or reflecting on what they want to work on; and the teacher or teacher takes a guiding role, simply helping their students when they encounter difficulties.
Because the primary role falls on the students in an active learning process, this teaching method requires a greater investment on the part of the students..
For example, they have to have higher levels of motivation, perform a greater number of activities, and pay greater attention to what they are doing..
This characteristic means that active learning is not the most suitable for all types of students that exist. Some students, either due to a low level of motivation or a lack of skills or abilities, simply cannot meet the necessary requirements to carry out this process correctly.
Numerous studies related to the functioning of memory have shown that the best way to acquire knowledge is through action. To learn something new, it is generally not enough to hear, see, or read it; it is necessary to act to be able to internalize it completely and in a lasting way.
Due to this, in the situations in which it can be applied, active learning generates much more profound and meaningful results than most more traditional teaching processes..
This occurs both when trying to internalize data and facts, and when practicing a new skill or attitude.
We have already seen that in order to carry out good active learning, students have to be able to keep their motivation high, take action, and perform tasks that can become quite complicated. Due to this, this educational process also develops their emotional abilities indirectly..
When a student is capable of good active learning, he is also strengthening his capacity for self-motivation, his ability to manage his own emotions, his proactivity and his curiosity. If, in addition, the process is carried out with other people, their social skills will also benefit.
Due to this, more and more schools are choosing to include active learning programs in their curricula.
Depending on which method is used to make students internalize the new knowledge, skills or attitudes that they have just acquired, there is usually a distinction between three types of active learning: basic, situational, and based on problem solving..
Most active learning processes can fall into this category. Its main characteristic is that students are taught about the information, skill or attitude that they are intended to acquire, and later they are presented with a challenge in which they have to use this new knowledge.
The challenges used in this active learning style can be very varied. Some examples are the generation of debates among students, or the practical application of the new skills acquired (such as the interpretation of a piece of music by music students).
This type of active learning is based on the works of Lev Vygotsky, who discovered that the acquisition of knowledge can be made more effective when a person is immersed in a community in which other individuals are trying to learn the same thing as him..
In this way, situational active learning occurs when a student has the opportunity to share experiences, impressions or ideas on the subject that he is trying to master with other people who are on the same path..
When such a situation occurs, some students will take on the role of "teachers", while the newer ones will start mostly by listening, asking questions and posing situations. Over time, their level of knowledge will increase, until they can also take on the role of teachers..
This type of active learning is the one that gives the most freedom to students of all. Students are presented with a problem that they have to solve, related to the ability, knowledge or attitude that they are intended to acquire; but they are not given any clues on how to find the solution.
Thus, students have to be able to find the information they need to solve the problem, and discover what actions they have to carry out. If they succeed, there will be long-lasting and entrenched learning.
There are many strategies that can be followed to encourage active learning. Most of them can be carried out in a traditional classroom, especially those that are related to the most basic model of this learning style. Some of the most important are the following:
- Put students in the role of teachers, in such a way that they have to transmit what they have learned to their classmates.
- Have students discuss the ideas they have acquired, so that they are able to see other perspectives and internalize them more effectively.
- Propose problems that students should be able to solve with the new skills or knowledge they have acquired during class.
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