Active learning
Transfer of knowledge is forever beneficial to generations to come.
Active learning
is an umbrella term that refers to several models of instruction that focus the
responsibility of learning on learners. “active learning" developed out of the work of an earlier group of theorists -- those promoting discovery learning.
Practice after initial learning, is of vital importance in one's education/career, and is important for cognitive development, but is practice required during learning?
It has been suggested that students who actively engage with the material are more likely to recall information.
Active learning exercises
The
experts suggested
1.
learners
work in pairs,
6.
produce
short written exercises, etc.
The
argument is when should active learning exercises be used during instruction. While it makes some sense to use these techniques as a "follow up" exercise or as application of known principles, it may not make sense to use them to introduce material.
Proponents argue that these exercises may be used to create a context of material, but this context may be confusing to those with no prior knowledge.
The degree of instructor guidance students need while being "active" may vary according to the task and its place in a teaching unit.
Examples of "active learning" activities include:
·A class
discussion
may be held in person or in an online environment. This environment allows for
instructor guidance.
·A think-pair-share activity is
when learners take a minute to ponder the previous lesson, later to discuss it
with one or more of their peers, finally to share it with the class as part
of a formal discussion. It is during this formal discussion that the instructor
should clarify misconceptions. However students need a background in the
subject matter to converse in a meaningful way. Therefore a "think pair
share" exercise is useful in situations where learners can identify and
relate what they know to others
·A short
written exercise that is often used is the "one minute paper."
This is a good way to review materials.
While
practice is useful to reinforce learning, problem solving is not always
suggested. Solving problems can even have negative influence on learning, instead he suggests that learners should study worked-examples, because this is a more efficient method of schema acquisition.
So instructors are cautioned to give learners some basic or initial instruction first, perhaps to be followed up with an activity based upon the above methods.
Active learning method: Learning by teaching (LdL)
An
efficient instructional strategy that mixes guidance with active learning is
"Learning by teaching" This strategy allows students to teach the new content to each other.
Of course they must be accurately guided by instructors.
This methodology was introduced during the early 1980s, especially in Germany, and is now well established in all levels of the German educational system.
"Learning by teaching" is integration of behaviorism and Cognitivism and offers a coherent framework for theory and practice.
Active learning and Policy
Policy
may be satisfied by demonstrating the instructional effectiveness of
instruction. Rubrics (education) are a good way to evaluate "active learning" based instruction.
These instructional tools can be used to describe the various different qualities of any activity. In addition, if given to the student, they can provide additional guidance
Research supporting active learning
Bonwell
and Eison (1991) state that active learning strategies are comparable to
lectures for achieving content mastery, but superior to lectures for developing
thinking and writing skills.
Controversy and Criticism
For
learning to be meaningful, experience is important, but should learning occur
while behaviorally active? Some educational literature from the past few
decades suggests otherwise. Certainly practicing procedural skills is a necessity for learning to be automated. But while these activities may be motivating for learners, these unguided situations can in fact leave learners less competent than when they began the activity.
In some groups, instructional elements were left out (objectives, information, examples, practice with feedback, review).
The "practice with feedback" is the active learning component of the study.
The researchers found that in all cases, students who had practice with feedback had better performance and more positive attitudes than those students who did not have opportunities for practice.
Studying examples as an alternative to active learning strategies
Self-guided
instruction is possible, but it is often arduous, clumsy, and less than
efficient Experts suggest learners should first study worked-examples because this is a more efficient method of initial instruction.
Evidence for learning by studying worked-examples has been found to be useful in many domains [e.g. music, chess, athletics concept mapping geometry physics, mathematics, or programming
Learning in Sudbury model democratic schools
Sudbury
model democratic schools criticize today's schools,
the concept of learning disabilities, special education,
and response to intervention, taking the position that every child
has a different learning style and pace and that each child is unique, not only capable of learning but
also capable of succeeding.They adduce there are many reasons why children may have difficulty learning, especially when the learning is imposed and the subject is something the child, or the young, or even the adult is not interested in, as is frequently done in today's school system.
Sudbury model democratic schools assert that there are many ways to study and learn. They argue that learning is a process people do, not a process that is done to people; They affirm this is true of everyone and it is basic. The experience of Sudbury model democratic schools, they adduce, shows there are many ways to learn without the intervention of a teacher being imperative.
They
maintain that in the case of reading for instance in the Sudbury model
democratic schools some children learn from being read to, memorizing the
stories and then ultimately reading them.
1.
Others
learn from cereal boxes,
2.
others
from games instructions,
3.
others
from street signs.
4.
Some
teach themselves letter sounds,
5.
others
syllables,
6.
others
whole words.
Sudbury model democratic schools adduce
that in their schools no one child has ever been forced, pushed, urged,
cajoled, or bribed into learning how to read or write, and they affirm they
have had no dyslexia. They also assert that none of their graduates are real or functional illiterates and claim no one who meets their older students could ever guess the age at which they first learned to read or write.
They also claim that in a similar form students learn all the subjects, techniques and skills in these schools. The staff are minor actors, the "teacher" is an adviser and helps just when asked.
Describing current instructional methods as homogenization and lockstep standardization, alternative approaches are proposed, an alternative approach in which they affirm children, by enjoying personal freedom thus encouraged to exercise personal responsibility for their actions, learn at their own pace and style rather than following a compulsory and chronologically-based curriculum.
A
healthy upbringing gives free reign [sic] to children from the very
beginnings of their lives to recognize and express their basic needs. The
earlier this begins, and the longer it is allowed to develop without
intervention, the more likely it is that such children will go through life
with a firmly established set of inner-directed guidelines that enable them to
distinguish clearly between needs that are real for them, and needs that are artificially
introduced by others. Indeed, the worst excesses of our consumer economy can be
traced directly to the inability of people to make this distinction, which is a
result of being raised according to the principles of Industrial Era Thinking.
Proponents of unschooling
have also claimed that children raised in this method do not suffer from
learning disabilities, thus not requiring the prevention of academic failure
through intervention.
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