Active Learning

Active Learning

“Hear and Forget, See and Remember, Do and Understand.”

~ Chinese Proverb

Simply stated by Dr. D. Robinson, “ Active learning is ‘doing’ and this leads to understanding.” Learning by doing is a theme that many educators have stressed since John Dewey’s convincing argument that “children must be engaged in an active quest for learning and new ideas”. (Hendrikson, 1984) Jean Piaget also stressed the need for concrete operations in early childhood. Some educators incorrectly assume that active learning is important only in the education of young children. However, Piaget makes it clear that this in not so: “Experience is always necessary for intellectual development... the subject must be active...." (Hendrikson, 1984).

Students are more attentive when actively involved in the learning process. By the lesson being centered on the student, they feel their role in the activity is important. Active learning is especially important in educating young children because it not only keeps student interested in the lesson, but also helps students to retain more information. “Research shows that when people are engaged in doing something rather than just listening and watching they actually learn better.” (Peterson, 1996) Being that students are learning fundamental lessons in their early childhood, it is important that they retain the information that they learn. Active learning also has the benefit of promoting attributes that employers will val...