In recent years, the term active engagement has been thrown around a lot in the education world. You hear teachers, content creators and educational experts emphasizing its importance, but do we really know what it means? In this article, we will delve into the concept of active engagement, its significance in learning and how to identify it.
What is Active Engagement?
At its core, active engagement is about transforming yourself as a recipient of information to an active information seeker. It’s like a learning journey where you are the driver, not the passenger. This means asking questions, challenging assumptions, connecting new information to your existing knowledge and most importantly, being willing to reshape your understanding when confronted with compelling evidence.
Why is Active Engagement Important?
Consider how a child learns to walk. They do not become proficient by being told how to walk or by watching others walk from a distance. They engage actively – wobbling, falling, experimenting with balance and gradually building muscle through persistent, hands-on practice. Learning information follows a similar principle: true comprehension emerges through direct interaction, reflection and iterative attempts. Through this process, the brain creates more robust neural connections.
You’re probably heard a lot about the benefits of active learning from experts online but the most important element is that students take control of their education and become highly involved in the learning process. This cultivates a greater sense of ownership over their learning and trains them to become lifelong learners.
How to Identify It?
There are many learning resources available in the market today, each touting active engagement as a key feature. While the concept is appealing, it’s crucial to discern genuine active learning from mere passive consumption. Most of us have no problem identifying passive learning, such as taking notes or watching a teacher deliver a lecture. Identifying active engagement becomes a challenge for parents when lessons are integrated with different elements such as discussions, activities or group work.
As we mentioned earlier, active learning is like cooking the meal yourself – making mistakes, adjusting recipes and truly understanding the craft. The process is self-directed. Discussions, activities and group work tend to lean more towards guided learning instead of active engagement.
Guided learning is an instructional approach where teachers or facilitators provide support, direction and structure to the learning process. This method involves active intervention from educators to help students understand concepts and complete tasks effectively. In guided learning, the teacher plays a central role in directing the learning process.
While it may have its advantages, guided learning is primarily focused on imparting knowledge and ownership for learning is placed on the teacher. Students become reliant on teachers for direction and this hinders the development of independent learning skills or lifelong learning. This method moves learners through predefined checkpoints and exploration is limited, this causes students to lose out on developing certain skills such as creativity, resilience, emotional intelligence, intrinsic motivation, enhanced problem-solving and critical thinking etc.
Guided learning doesn’t just limit skill acquisition, it can fundamentally alter a student’s relationship with knowledge. Interested to learn more about how guided learning might hold back skill development? Like and follow to find more in part 2.
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