Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom

Louis Deslauriers, Logan S. McCarty, Kelly Miller, Kristina Callaghan, and Greg Kestin, Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom, PNAS September 24, 2019 116 (39) 19251-19257; first published September 4, 2019 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821936116.

Despite active learning being recognized as a superior method of instruction in the classroom, a major recent survey found that most college STEM instructors still choose traditional teaching methods. This article addresses the long-standing question of why students and faculty remain resistant to active learning. Comparing passive lectures with active learning using a randomized experimental approach and identical course materials, we find that students in the active classroom learn more, but they feel like they learn less. We show that this negative correlation is caused in part by the increased cognitive effort required during active learning. Faculty who adopt active learning are encouraged to intervene and address this misperception, and we describe a successful example of such an intervention.