Active Learning vs.

Passive Learning — An In-Depth Guide

When it comes to mastering a subject, what someone learns is only part of

the equation — how one learns it is crucial to consider as well. In this article,
we’ll dive into two different learning methods, which are typically described as
‘passive’ learning and ‘active’ learning.

Decades of educational research have confirmed that passive learning isn’t as

effective as active learning. Unfortunately, the former still wins out in many
school classrooms and job training programs. We’re all familiar with these
‘sage on the stage’ or the “‘chalk and talk’ learning experiences. Fortunately,
there is a better way.

Below, you can find an in-depth guide to active and passive learning. We
cover the critical differences between them. Then, you can discover for
yourself why active learning is the strategy you need for effective training or
coaching in your business.

Let’s start with what most people are used to from grade school – passive
learning (unless you were one of the lucky few who went to a school
practicing more innovative teaching methods!)

What Is Passive Learning?

Passive learning is what many people are familiar with from school. It typically
involves listening to a lecture or reading a book. It may involve independent
personal study, followed by tests to measure comprehension. The
communication is usually one-way, with most communication flowing from the
teacher to the learner.

The expectation is for the learner to comprehend and assimilate the

information given to them to transform it into knowledge. This responsibility to
learn falls solely on the individual learner, who is (ideally) paying close
attention.

What Is Active Learning?

Active learning gets the learner involved in the instructional process in various
ways, such as discussions, projects, and smaller activities. It can also simply
involve practicing a concept, or applying an idea to a real-world scenario.
Active learning helps stimulate a student’s conceptual understanding of topics
and concepts by engaging them within the comprehension process.

Active learning may incorporate textbooks, lectures, and powerpoints.

However, it always gets the student doing something (beyond just listening or
taking notes) – things like hands-on experiments, class discussions, peer-to-
peer debates, learning games, and novel challenges.

All of these things put the learner in the driver’s seat rather than participating
only as an observer.

If you can successfully engage learners in active learning, not only is the
structure and style quite different, but the outcomes are, too. It leads not only
to higher scores but also long-term retention of the information.

What Are the Differences Between Active and Passive Learning?

It can be frustrating for learners to devote hours studying new materials only
to perform poorly when assessments come around. Part of that reason is
likely to be the disconnect between the content and the passive learning style
they’re using to absorb it.

Passive learning has shown to be less effective at long-term retention than

active learning. Rote memorization doesn’t always translate to retention.

The trouble with the passive style is that comprehension and understanding
are difficult to gauge without conducting repeated assessments.

The differences between active and passive learning include:

 Role of the teacher

 Role of the learner
 Structure and source of instructional materials
 Methods of evaluation

And, perhaps most importantly, the results.

Communication Style

Passive learning relies on one-way communication. The learner attempts to

absorb the information by reading books, listening to lectures, or clicking
through online courses. This process, also called self-learning, depends
almost entirely on the learner’s dedication.

On the other hand, active learning often involves communication between

learners, groups, and the teacher. Communication can take many forms,
including discussions, group projects, and live Q&A sessions. The expectation
is that students will participate in the lesson just as much as the instructor to
increase their engagement.

Involvement

In passive learning, student involvement requires the learner to engage with

the content on their own. They can be very involved or far from involved—the
distinction is up to them. These traditional study methods keep student
engagement to a minimum. There are important equity considerations that
this assumption brings, as Anne Murphy Paul discussed in the New York
Times

Active learning encourages learners to participate in learning the concept.

They may contribute to class discussions, perform experiments, ask
questions, challenge other students, etc. Rather than passively absorbing (or
not absorbing) the information presented to them, the learners interact directly
with the concepts to better understand them. Dr. Kelly Hogan’s work at UNC-
Chapel Hill has demonstrated that active learning can mitigate some of the
inequities often observed in passive learning environments.

Orientation

Passive education is oriented around the teacher, giving them complete

control to set up their class however they desire. It gives them the floor to
share whatever information as they see fit. It puts all eyes on the instructor
and places the learners in the role of an audience rather than participants.

Active learning orients around the learner. It draws on the student’s

involvement to help facilitate discussion and drive the right points home. It’s a
two-way relationship between the learner and the instructor/material.
Control of Materials

In passive learning, the instructor controls the materials used in the lessons.
The expectation is for learners to use the resources provided to learn what is
necessary. They don’t add anything else but merely extract what is most
important from the content and memorize it.

Learners have much more control over the process with active education.
They receive encouragement to seek out sources of information to find new
solutions, ideas, or possibilities. They may bring in their own materials to
broaden the discussion or compare ideas. Through this experience, students
develop more metacognitive skills through active learning than they might
through passive learning.

Evaluation Methods

When it comes to evaluation, passive learning tends to rely on multiple-choice

exams and standardized testing. Without effective independent studying from
the learner, the test results can suffer.

As such, passive learning is often accused of teaching to the test. However, if

your goal is maximizing standardized test scores, active learning is actually
better at that too!

More importantly, in terms of lifelong knowledge, active learning can provide

significant benefits, and more creative modes of assessment to accompany
the learning – like real-world projects or community showcases – can inspire
students, teach life skills, and develop more sticky memories.

If you’re interested in examples of creative, active assessments, look into

example Projects at High Tech High, one of the leaders in active learning.

Retention Rate

Passive learning can show good results immediately following the teaching.
For this to happen, the learner must memorize the information and reiterate it
through an exam or other assessment.
However, as time goes on, this information isn’t as likely to stick. Anything
learned passively requires memorization rather than deeper learning. A useful
framework to consider is Bloom’s Taxonomy — the higher up the taxonomy
you go, the more active learning is required.

Learners deeply involved in digesting new concepts, especially through the

active learning strategy of repetition, are more likely to retain information long-
term. The more hands-on, application-based comprehension helps cement
the essential concepts into their brains.

Role of the Teacher

In passive learning, the teacher is the primary source of knowledge on the

topic. The authoritative position limits the information available for
comprehension purposes and restricts the materials the students can use.

In active learning, the teacher or instructor is more of a facilitator. Their job is

to create the right environment for students to participate in activities and gain
new knowledge. In the information age, students have significantly more
access to information than in generations past. As a result, equipping
students to deal with all that information is essential.

Modes of Thinking

In passive education, students are encouraged to think convergently.

Everyone arrives at the same answer to the same question.

Active learning promotes lateral thinking. This mode of thinking helps students
connect concepts to external applications in the real world. It also
encourages divergent thinking, generating creativity and variation in the
answers, insights, and understanding. The educational philosophy
of constructivism offers a strong framework for thinking of these benefits of
active learning.

Methods of Gaining Knowledge

Passive uses observation, listening, and reading as methods to gain

knowledge. These are valuable skills to have, but they are not the only
methods for a deep understanding of a topic.
Active learners gain knowledge through experimentation, application,
creation, synthesis, and more. It also makes methods more flexible and
invites students to try multiple different modes of learning.

Why Is Active Learning More Effective Than Passive Learning?

Active learning is more effective than passive learning for many reasons.
Some of the benefits that help it stand out include:

 Improves short term information acquisition

 Improves long term knowledge retention
 Creates room for frequent feedback to the instructor from learners
 Allows more information to be presented from multiple sources
 Stimulates learners’ attention
 Requires participation which leads to more long-term retention
 Encourages learners to develop critical thinking skills
 Helps learners apply lessons to real-life/the field

Conclusion

Some learners who prefer to learn independently without external interference

may enjoy passively receiving information and memorizing it. However, most
people find that they are more successful in gaining and retaining long-term
knowledge when actively building comprehension.

Are you looking for long-term understanding for your employees to increase
their skills and knowledge and apply these new concepts to everyday
business situations?

Active learning is where you’ll find the most success.

What is Passive Learning?

Passive learning sounds a little more laid back, but that is not necessarily
true. While it may not require the intrinsic feedback of active learning, it
definitely has its benefits. Passive learning is when all of the learning is
generated from the teacher and absorbed by the learner. Most commonly this
is viewed as a lecture. However, let’s not present the idea of a lecture as if it
is a dirty word. If you’re an educator over 30, not only were your probably
lectured all the way through your professional education, you have a serious
skill set that you may have noticed that your students lack.
Molly Worthen, an associate professor at UNC Chapel Hill, notes that the
idea of “Absorbing a long, complex argument is hard work, requiring students
to synthesize, organize and react as they listen. In our time, when any reading
assignment longer than a Facebook post seems ponderous, students have
little experience doing this.”

Many of our students are used to the instant gratification that isn’t always
evident in lecture learning, but the grit that inevitably comes from practicing
listening, discerning which notes are note-worthy, and being able to build
information from class to class is something to be proud of.

Passive learning also is part of everyday lives. It comes from the books we
read, the television shows we watch, and, yes, the social media we absorb
constantly. I know that there have been many times I’ve heard people say
recently that they tried something and they learned it on TikTok. Passively,
apps like that actively change the world. In that same token, we passively
absorb mannerisms from our parents and those are passively passed down to
our children. We passively model good behavior for our students and even for
colleagues. My principal is an impeccable dresser and there are many days I
think of her as an icon of professionalism.

These are all important options for learning. And although it may be a
challenge for some students, Molly Worthen finds “listening continuously and
taking notes for an hour is an unusual cognitive experience for most young
people…lecture courses [are] an exercise in mindfulness.” Although this
method is often viewed as antiquated, it has and will continue to have its
benefits.

Differences: Active and Passive learning

The differences between these two learning styles centers primarily on who is
doing the work in order to achieve the learning. A classroom teacher should
not have to work overtime in order to ensure students are learning content.
Teaching and learning should have some balance. Active learning is learner-
centered and passive learning is teacher centered. Active learning requires
students to think, discuss, challenge, and analyze information. Passive
learning requires learners to absorb, assimilate, consider, and translate
information. Active learning encourages conversation and debate, while
passive learning encourages active listening and paying attention to detail.
Traditionally, active learning is considered to activate higher-order thinking,
and passive learning just helps students to retain.

Active learning will give students the opportunity to challenge pre-conceived

notions and biases as they have discussions and defend their beliefs.
Students have to have strong observation, communication, and critical
thinking skills. On the other hand, with passive learning, students have the
opportunity to consider their beliefs. As a listener, they may not always get the
opportunity to confront an idea, but they can still recognize a difference
between what they believe and what is presented.
Learners in a passive setting are not frequently encouraged to challenge
ideas, which may not always be necessary when learning skills in certain
mathematical or scientific subjects where the facts are firm. However, in
whichever learning environment, a good teacher will encourage a strong
learner to ask questions when confused and will ensure the clarification of all
learning.

How Do I Know Which One to Use?

Use both. Everyday. Or at least as often as possible. There are days when
learners need to be filled with facts and days when they need to be allowed to
wrestle with the details. Know yourself. If you’re an animated teacher that
knows how to be a sage on the stage, but stop and let your students discuss
and ask you questions, rock on! If you’re a teacher that likes to get eye level
with your students and engage them in small groups for active discussion, go
you! If while you are presenting a lecture there is a playlist that accompanies
the slides and topics, well aren’t you intentional! If you’re working with a small
group and they just want to hash out some confusion, thank you for being
flexible.

Do what’s best for the students that are right in front of you. You will know
you’re doing a good job if the data shows they are learning. If it doesn’t try
something else and then something else and then something else until both
you and your students can experience active and passive success.

Educators never stop learning; check out our available graduate degree
programs to hone your skills and promote lifelong learning and
academic excellence.

https://www.graduateprogram.org/2021/06/active-vs-passive-learning-whats-
the-difference/#:~:text=Active%20learning%20requires%20students
%20to,and%20paying%20attention%20to%20detail.

Is Development Active or Passive?

How much does one play a role in their developmental path? Are we at the
whim of our genetic inheritance or the environment that surrounds you, or are
we able to decide and steer our development? Some theorists believe that
humans play a much more active role in their development. Piaget, for
instance, believed that children actively explore their world and construct new
ways of thinking to explain the things they experience. Humanist theorists
forward that people have self-determination. In contrast, many behaviorists
view humans as being more passive in the developmental process, with
outcomes being determined by their experiences. Evolutionary psychologists
emphasize the role of heredity in determining development. As we explore
various theories, ask yourself whether each approach considers development
to be an active or passive process.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/adolescent/chapter/key-issues-in-human-
development/

ACTIVE VS PASSIVE PERSON

PSYCHOANALYTICAL PERSPECTIVE
Active: children are driven by inborn instincts whichare channelled(with the
assistance of others) into socially desirable outlets.

LEARNING PERSPECTVE
Passive: children are moulded by their environments (although Bandura
claims that developing persons also influence these environments)

PIAGET’S COGNITIVE-DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY

Active: children actively construct more sophisticated understandings of the
self, others, and the environment to which they adapt.

INFORMATION-PROCESSING PERSPECTIVE
Active: children actively process environmental information to answer
questions, solve problems, or otherwise master challenges

ETHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Active: humans are born with biologically programmed behaviours that
promote adaptive developmental outcomes.

ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE

Both: humans actively influence the environmental contexts that influence
their development

https://www.studocu.com/en-gb/document/university-of-the-west-of-scotland/
biological-developmental-psychology/thoeries-of-development/1540329