Learning Is More Effective When Active

Carnegie Mellon University - Engaging students through interactive activities, discussions, feedback and AI-enhanced technologies resulted in improved academic performance compared to traditional lectures, lessons or readings, faculty from Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute concluded after collecting research into active learning. The research also found that effective active learning methods use not only hands-on and minds-on approaches, but also hearts-on, providing increased emotional and social support. Interest in active learning grew as the COVID-19 pandemic challenged educators to find new ways to engage students. Schools and teachers adopted new technologies, while students faced negative psychological effects of isolation, restlessness and inattention brought on by quarantine and remote learning. The pandemic made it clear that traditional approaches to education may not be the best way to learn, but questions persisted about what active learning is and how best to use it to teach and engage and excite students. Nesra Yannier , faculty in HCII, and Ken Koedinger , a professor of human-computer interaction and psychology , collaborated with researchers at several universities including Stanford, Harvard and University of Washington, to summarize the important findings around active learning. Their work, " Active Learning: 'Hands-on' Meets 'Minds-on ,'" was published in Science.