Active Learning vs. Passive Learning: What’s the Best Way to Learn?

For teachers, knowledge of different approaches to learning is essential to presenting information in an appealing way to students. By understanding their students’ individual backgrounds and experiences, teachers can make content more accessible and help students feel more confident in the classroom.

The effectiveness of different learning strategies—in this case, active and passive—has been debated among educators. But what do the terms “active learning” and “passive learning” really mean? How can these two approaches to learning affect a student’s comprehension of material? Is one method more successful than another? And can these two ways of learning ever be combined? Let’s find out!

What is active learning?

Active learning involves the student in the instructional process through the use of relevant activities and discussions. This method stimulates and reinforces the student’s conceptual understanding of course material by engaging them within the lesson process, as opposed to merely listing off facts and explaining topics through traditional lectures. Examples of active learning include:

• Hands-on labs
• Group problems
• Peer instruction
• Games and challenges

The process of active learning has students working with peers, trying new ideas, and regularly reflecting on their own abilities. Research suggests that students engaging in active learning are “more likely to be achieving meaningful learning.” Students are more likely to draw connections to the world and especially to their own lives. Key skills that may develop through the process of active learning are analysis, evaluation, public speaking, and collaboration.

In turn, active learning methods provide the teacher with an ongoing analysis of their students’ understanding because there is constant feedback between the student and the material.

Active learning benefits

Notably, active learning:

• Increases critical thinking
• Provides frequent feedback on a student’s comprehension of the material
• Gives students a larger role in their learning environment
• Increases student attention
• Stimulates discussions

Challenges of active learning

On the flip side, active learning methods:

• Require more spontaneous and flexible lesson plans
• Limit the amount of material that can be covered in a class period
• May require additional teacher oversight of learning activities

Activities that stimulate active learning in school

Looking to implement active learning in your classroom? Below are three popular activities that teachers can use to engage students and improve their retention of course material.

Small-group discussions

Have your students put together a diagram, video, or some sort of multimedia presentation and share their findings with the rest of the class. This activity stimulates one-on-one communication with peers, allowing students to comfortably share ideas and ask questions. Moreover, encouraging students to present their discoveries builds on their research, presentation, and public speaking skills.

Games and interactive simulations

Integrate games and simulations into your lesson plan. Classroom games and simulations can improve engagement, stimulate conceptual learning, and allow students to solve problems in a fun and safe space. For example, students may observe cause and effect firsthand through a digital simulation of a scientific phenomenon. Even if a game is less literally related to the content, when students encounter a problem, they will quickly see the effect of strategies they try—so it’s effectively trial-and-error exploratory learning. Not only do online games provide this sort of immediate feedback, they can give students a healthy exposure to technology.

Role-playing and debates

These activities allow students to do in-depth research on the material and present their findings in an interactive way. This encourages students to analyze their research and think on the spot. The main difference between games/simulations and role-playing/debates is that role-playing activities and debates will typically begin with independent and more in-depth research that allows for better informed thinking on the spot later.

What is passive learning?

Passive learning holds students responsible for absorbing the presented information on their own terms. The information may be presented in the form of lectures or assigned readings. In either case, the student is accountable for paying attention, asking questions, and performing well on tests.

It is important to point out that passive learning can still be learning! Research suggests that a “student could be overtly passive while experiencing high levels of cognitive processing.” Passive learning promotes listening, reading, and writing skills and still allows instructors to test students’ understanding through formal and informal assessments.

Passive learning benefits

Some advantages of passive learning are that it:

• Efficiently presents a variety of information to students
• Allows lecture notes to be planned and reused
• Gives the teacher more control over course delivery
• Facilitates an organized presentation of the material

Challenges of passive learning

On the other hand, passive learning:

• May appear less engaging
• Presents fewer opportunities to assess student comprehension
• Could make students shy away from voicing a misunderstanding
• Involves students less in the learning experience

Activities that stimulate passive learning

If you are providing instruction through passive learning, consider incorporating these options into your lessons.

Assigned readings

This is a classic example of passive learning. Students read and absorb the material on their own time and are responsible for studying the content.

Slideshow presentations

The teacher designs slideshow lessons ahead of time, and students take notes on the information during class. There may be limited discussion or active participation from students while the presentation is being given. The emphasis is instead on organized content and clear narration.

Traditional or online lectures

The bread and butter of many educational programs, a lecture gives the teacher full control over the information being presented to the class. This allows you to teach a great deal of information in a short period of time, but it also puts more responsibility on you to ensure that the information is communicated clearly.

Balancing passive learning vs. active learning in the classroom

Much of school is designed to help students not only learn content, but also learn how to learn, which requires discovering what tools help them learn best. Helping students learn in different ways can lead to more overall engagement with the material and foster a desire for lifelong learning.

At the start of each school year, it’s a good idea to give students a survey on how they feel about learning and what methods they like best. Analyzing these self-reflections can give insight into how they like to receive information, how they best engage with the material, and how they feel most comfortable expressing what they have learned.

Integrating approaches to learning

Active learning and passive learning appear to be polar opposites. However, there are ways to combine both approaches to complement the effectiveness of each. Here are some suggestions on how to help your students reap the benefits of both active and passive learning.

1. Have students complete assigned readings at home and take active notes on themes, questions, and important quotes. At the start of class, organize students into small groups to share their ideas. Finally, have one person from each group present either a quote or question and explain why it was important.
2. After a role-play, debate, or game, create a presentation that summarizes key points. This presentation helps highlight key information for synthesis and connects the dots between what occurred during an active learning exercise and the lesson plan.
3. After a long lecture, have students individually write down five test question predictions. In small groups, have them put together a mini-assessment with the best questions. After the mini-tests are written, have students swap tests with another group, take the tests, and see how well they score.

Each student is different

Ultimately, both active learning and passive learning are valid methods of absorbing information. Each student has a different way of understanding and engaging with new information—and that way may change over time and with different topics. At the end of the day, variety is the key to developing engaging lesson plans.

This article was adapted from a blog post initially developed by the education technology company Classcraft, which was acquired by HMH in 2023. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of HMH.

***

Find more lesson plans and classroom resources on Shaped.