The Characteristics of Effective Learning (CoEL), part 3: Active learning

Active learning is all about motivation – the will to learn. It is the reason we commit to being involved in an activity, persist in carrying it out and try again to succeed if our first attempts fail. Active learners, whether nine months or 90 years old, may not be physically active and moving their bodies (although in the case of young children, this is highly likely), but they will be participating with will and determination. In other words, they are active agents in their own learning.

As Nancy Stewart (2022) explains, ‘Learning theories have moved beyond the transmission model of teaching and learning which assumes knowledge and understanding can be directly transferred from the more knowledgeable person. Instead, social constructivist theory explains that while a more expert partner opens doors to new possibilities and supports use of these new approaches, the learner must actually do the work of mentally interpreting and linking the new input to existing understandings. This may involve building new concepts or restructuring existing understanding as required to make the learning usable for the individual. The learner, then, is not a passive recipient of their learning but is the active agent in the process.’