The Relationship Between Active Learning and Active Learning Techniques
Just engaging students in a given task is not sufficient. It is not safe, for example, to conclude that if students are talking to each other they are learning. It is equally risky to conclude that students are learning when they are listening to other students talking. Something beyond the task has to happen for active learning to occur.
We propose that when identifying a technique to promote active learning in a college course, teachers should consider not only the learning task but also a goal for the level of activity involved. By level of activity, we mean students' mental investment and the strategies they use to reflect on and monitor the processes and the results of their learning (Barkley & Major, 2018). Level of activity is a discrete component because one type of learning task does not necessarily demand more mental investment than another; rather, each type of learning task can require more or less mental activity depending on the individual learner as well as the content and design of the specific task. For example, although some educators argue that students who are listening to a lecture are necessarily learning more passively than those who are solving problems, consider the following problem: X + 3 = 5. Most college students can solve this problem without too much mental activity. However, college students who are listening carefully to a lecture can have high levels of mental activity, including focused attention, curiosity, empathy, critical thinking, and so forth. Thus, students can have low to high levels of mental activity in any given learning task and any given learning task can require and result in more or less active learning from students. We offer our own conception of the active learning continuum for several key learning tasks in Table 3.2 (from Barkley & Major, 2018, pp. 22–23).
The challenge for faculty who wish to employ active learning techniques to promote deeper, more active learning is to find techniques that can help students move from level 1 (low) to level 3 (high) on the continuum in terms of their mental activity, whatever the learning task happens to be. Active learning techniques are a vehicle to help students not only take on the task but also engage in the higher levels of active learning.
TABLE 3.2. The Active Learning Continuum for Several Key Learning Tasks
| LearningTask | Level of Mental Activity | ||
| 1 Low | 2 Moderate | 3 High | |
| Listening | Listens for facts and information | Maintains concerted attention while trying to understand the message and to formulate questions about the message | Expresses interest and enthusiasm; attempts to critique and evaluate the message; monitors own attention |
| Problem-solving | Solves the problem | Recognizes the underlying structure of the problem | Considers the processes for solving the problem and self-monitors efforts and progress |
| Reading | Seeks facts and information | Seeks structural understanding | Seeks meaning and monitors own reading engagement; investigates related readings and resources |
| Discussing | Relays facts | Conveys ideas and concepts and encourages others | Shares personal perspectives and seeks to understand others; argues and evaluates concepts; self-monitors participation |
| Writing | Describes and defines | Explains and applies; expresses personal perspectives; seeks out references | Critiques, evaluates, and creates; seeks to express personal perspectives and connect with others' ideas; monitors progress and assesses quality |
Conclusion
Learning is a dynamic process in which learners literally “build” their own minds by constantly making and changing connections between what is new and what is already known. Deep, long-term learning occurs when changed connections result in reformatted structures—whether these structures are described as schemata or neuronal networks. As much as we (and often students!) would like to think that we as teachers can simply transfer knowledge into learners' brains, it is simply not possible. Students need to do the work required to learn. We can help them by setting up conditions for active learning. By being active participants in their own learning, students “build” their own minds at the level of involvement required for engaged learning.
We also note that although students may find one (or even several) course activities engaging, the kind of intense and sustained student engagement that most teachers strive for is a byproduct of a larger, integrated effort. This includes implementing the principles of good teaching, such as establishing clear and significant learning goals, holding students to high expectations, and giving them prompt feedback. But it also requires something both deeper and less tangible: approaching teaching with the aim to honor students by
[g]enuinely engaging their spirit, their experience, and their perspective. A mere strategy does not create such a milieu. [It is] the result of a determined living harmony, a constancy of practices blended with ideals from the beginning to the end of every lesson of every session of every course. (Wlodkowski, 2008, p. 169)
Thus, in the following sections, we turn our attention to how teachers can work to create synergy between motivation and active learning.
Chapter 4 Promoting Synergy Between Motivation and Active Learning
IN OUR MODEL of student engagement, motivation and active learning are twin helices that work together synergistically. How can we promote this synergy? We propose that there are classroom conditions that function somewhat like steps or rungs between the two sides of the double helix spiral. These conditions, because they integrate elements of both motivation and active learning, contribute to the synergy that promotes increased levels of engagement.
Condition 1: Teachers Can Promote Synergy by Creating a Sense of Classroom Community
If we had only our own observations of the ubiquitous use of cell phones on campus, we'd probably conclude that staying connected to other people is important to today's students. But this desire