Research Based Click here for a list of basic references
Pilot tested for five years by the authors of the The Active Learning Workbook with more than 1000 undergraduate students. Those who used The Active Learning Workbook as an extra credit assignment (compared to students who participated in a different extra credit assignment) achieved the following:
- Earned one full grade higher on exams and on their final grade.
- Significantly increased comprehension of text material.
- Increased class participation.
- Significantly enhanced interest in text content.
- Reported deeper understanding of interrelationships among text topics.
- Preferred using the Active Learning Workbook instead of underlining text and having to self-generate study notes.
- Were significantly more prepared for exams (and it was reflected in their grades).
- Class attendance significantly increased.
The Active Learning Workbook takes advantage of one of the most consistent and important findings in recent educational research: students who make frequent, lesson-relevant responses to text and lecture material learn more than students who are passive readers and observers.
Students who produce complete and accurate lecture (and reading) notes, and who study them later consistently receive higher test scores than students who only listen to the lecture and passively read the text. Inaccurate and incomplete reading notes are of limited value for subsequent study. The Active Learning Workbook help level the playing field between students with and without good notetaking skills.
The Active Learning Workbook increase students' active engagement with their reading content. Students must actively respond to the content in the workbook, they must think, and write, which promotes active participation and thinking in course content.
By using The Active Learning Workbook students can more easily identify the most important core concepts and ideas in their text. Because The Active Learning Workbook cues the important key concepts, facts, and/or relationships, students are better able to determine if they are getting the most important content.
Experimental studies have consistently found that students - across all achievement levels those with and without disabilities - earn higher test scores when using active learning techniques like those presented in the The Active Learning Workbook than they earn when taking their own notes.