Comments on: Blog: Inactive Learning /tls/2015/blog-inactive-learning/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=blog-inactive-learning&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=blog-inactive-learning ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University Thu, 06 Jan 2022 17:25:26 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.1 By: Maristela /tls/2015/blog-inactive-learning/#comment-149 Wed, 04 Mar 2015 14:10:57 +0000 http://carleton.ca/edc/?p=16431#comment-149 The current research in educational psychology shows that the learning activities that are traditionally considered less “active” can be, when the results are compared, of the same “active” level as others, even if intuitively and traditionally we don’t consider them to be so. For example, the research shows that the basic retrieval practice can sometimes produce greater gains in meaningful learning then elaborative concept mapping and that whether we consider the task (or it appears to be) more “active” is not diagnostic of how much learning the task will produce.

Therefore, no matter how we set up the learning environment, it does not guarantee that what will happen in it will be any more “active” in terms of learning gains than what is happening in traditional classrooms, unless we carefully plan the activities aligned with intended learning outcomes; those that are geared towards promoting communication, collaboration, tolerance, exchange of ideas, peer instruction and critical thinking . A physical environment where it is easier to get people to work in groups will surely make these activities more comfortable, while providing the environment that is more conducive to many new teaching and learning strategies instructors are willing to embrace.

However, I believe that by calling all these new rooms “active classrooms” would imply that all others are “inactive” which would not be fair and reflective of what is necessarily happening in them. So why not call them simply “Group Work Spaces” because this is what they really are, geared towards group work instead of lecture?

Here are some nice suggestions about implementing group work in the classroom from Centre for teaching Excellence at University of Waterloo:

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