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Humanities
- ISSN: 2155-7993
- Journal of Modern Education Review
Risks of Active Learning Approach: Missing the Learning Goals
Michaël Canu, Mauricio Duque, Margarita Gómez
(Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia)
Abstract: Properly designed active learning instruction using “Hands-on” activities could result in higher student motivation and also higher teacher involvement, particularly when it implies a change from less active learning strategies (lectures, presentations) that are more commonly found in the daily life of students and teachers. Often, the expected learning improvement after these changes in instructional strategies, are assessed by standardized tests that usually assess only the declarative knowledge of the students. Occasionally, the impact of these proposals is measured by means of perception of the students. These ways of assessing fail to address the question of what really students learn in Hands-on sessions and if they really learn “better” or “more” using this kind of approach. Actually, recent research suggest that not every active learning session could promote improvements in learning, particularly in terms of conceptual knowledge and deep understanding. The workshop describes in this paper aims to explore an efficient active learning approach for equilibrium and stability concepts. The activities proposed in this workshop show different ways in which these topics can be addressed in an active way with potentially very different learning results. After analyzing this experience, participants are asked to design another learning activity using approaches that effectively promote the expected learning. Designs and their analysis allow the comprehension of frameworks as Understanding by design or Didactical Engineering for the development of effective active learning sessions.
Key words: active learning, engineering education, didactical engineering, problem-based learning, hands-on
