The 3 fundamental benefits of active learning
Thomas Courtley
Education Specialist
What is active learning?
Active learning is a student-centred way of learning.
It focuses on how students learn, and not only on what they learn. Students are stimulated to ‘think hard’ and become active, as opposed to passively listening and basically just memorising what you tell them. All teachers wish for classrooms full of active learners! LessonUp is an easy-to-use online teaching platform that encourages and supports active learning. Curious how?
What are the theories behind active learning?
Active learning is based on the theory of constructivism.
Constructivism is an approach to learning that holds that people actively construct their own knowledge and that reality is determined by the experiences and interactions of the learner. Constructivists argue that learning is a process of actively ‘creating meaning’. Learners develop their existing knowledge and understanding to deeper levels of understanding.
Teachers can support students by making these deeper levels of understanding possible. How? By providing learning environments, interactions, opportunities, targeted learning techniques and instructions to stimulate students to dive deeper into the process of learning.
1. Active learning leads students towards success
Successful students use their understanding to evaluate and synthesise ideas.
Active learning stimulates students to take a central role in their learning. By doing so, students enhance their skills and understanding of a topic or subject. This helps them get through tests with remarkable results, and higher scores.
Students who are stimulated to learn actively during secondary school are better prepared for higher education and life at the workplace. Developing analytical skills also helps them with problem solving and with applying their knowledge to practice.
2. Active learning promotes lifelong learners
Learning is not only about the content, but just as much about the process. Through the process, students work on their autonomy and ability to learn. It makes them more independent and in control of their unique ways of learning.
It’s like riding a bike: these skills remain intact even after their studies. Once they get used to ‘thinking hard’ about things, learning better and diving deeper, they rarely go back to passively listening to people. The great thing about empowering your students is that you give them tools to better their lives.
3. Active learning stands for a lifetime of engagement
An active approach to learning encourages focus and curiosity, and gives learners a feeling of empowerment. All these factors have a positive effect on students’ level of enthusiasm at school, during their free time, and later on the workfloor.
Empowered, active learners always tend to listen to more than one opinion about a topic before forming their own. That makes them generally more emphatic, and creative in the way they approach topics and communicate with others. All in all, active learners lead colourful, meaningful lives and they tend to inspire other people with their contagious energy and curiosity.
Interested in ways to help your students become active learners?
