Active Engagement: Learning vs The Feeling of Learning

Active Engagement: Learning vs The Feeling of Learning

What is this Research About?

In recent years, active learning methodology has gained traction among instructors. However, students often have negative views of active learning. When surveyed, they often report that they learn less in an active learning setting. When students' negative feelings about active learning are reflected in course reviews, instructors may be less likely to pursue this methodology despite its proven efficacy in the classroom.  
 
Active learning is more effective, yet students often dislike it. How can instructors account for this? To answer this question, Deslauriers et al. measured students' actual learning and compared it with their perceptions of their learning in both active and passive learning classrooms. 

What did the Researchers Do?

The study's participants were Havard University students enrolled in large introductory physics classes. Students were surveyed during a fifteen-week semester. The experiment was repeated twice, once in Spring and once in the Fall. Students were assigned randomly to two courses with identical content. Using the same course material, control group professors used passive instruction, while treatment group professors used active instruction. The major difference in instruction was whether students were directly told how to solve a physics problem (passive) or if they were asked to solve the problem themselves in small groups before being given the solution (active). After each class, students were surveyed on their “feeling of learning” (FOL) and their “test of learning” (TOL). 

What did the Researchers Find?

Deslauriers et al. identified discrepancies in students' actual learning vs their self-reported feelings about their learning. Specifically, they found that students in active learning (treatment) classrooms reported having learned less than their peers in the passive learning classrooms (control).  
 
However, according to results from physics questions answered by both groups, the active learning group learned more than their peers in the passive learning (control) group. This suggests that self-evaluations based on self-perceptions of learning could erroneously suggest that students learn more from passive learning than active learning. 
 
Further, this bias against active learning can make students feel unmotivated and disengaged, therefore hindering its effectiveness in the classroom. Additionally, poor perceptions of active learning can lead to poor course reviews, causing instructors to limit active learning in classrooms despite its effectiveness. 

→ How to Implement this Research in Your Classroom

Deslauriers et al. compared students' learning to students’ feelings about their learning in active and passive learning classrooms. Despite the correlation between active learning and higher test scores, students consistently reported that they were learning less in active learning classrooms. The researchers posit that this is mainly because students are biased against active learning because it can be less enjoyable and more cognitively demanding.  

To mitigate this in the classroom, Deslauriers et al. suggest that instructors should make this discrepancy apparent to students early in the semester. Consequently, students will be less likely to conflate their frustrations with active learning with a lack of actual learning. 

→  Citation

Deslauriers, L., McCarty, L. S., Miller, K., Callaghan, K., & Kestin, G. (2019). Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(39), 19251-19257. 

→  Keywords

  • Scientific Teaching
  • Undergraduate Education
  • Active Learning
  • Evidence-Based Teaching
  • Physics

Creative Commons by logo This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Canada License

Snapshot Writer: Natalie Vasilivetsky

Snapshot Publication Date: 2024

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