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What changes when university students do more than listen?

In 2014, researchers combined 225 studies comparing traditional lectures with active learning in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The review found better average performance with active learning, but the activities varied widely. Its results invite a closer look at what students were doing and what the studies actually measured.

3–7 min

Questions you could explore

  • What counted as active learning in the review?
  • How far can findings from undergraduate STEM courses travel to other settings?

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Education and learning

Why can closing the book change how you study?

A passage can feel familiar while you are looking at it and become difficult to explain once it is hidden. Rereading and trying to recall it involve different demands, and immediate ease need not tell the whole story about later retention.

3–7 min

Why can closing the book change how you study?

Education and learning3–7 minA passage can feel familiar while you are looking at it and become difficult to explain once it is hidden. Rereading and trying to recall it involve different demands, and immediate ease need not tell the whole story about later retention.

Education and learning

Why can spacing study sessions change later recall?

Two study plans can use the same amount of practice yet place it at different points in time. Research on spacing asks how the gaps between sessions interact with the delay before knowledge is needed.

3–7 min

Why can spacing study sessions change later recall?

Education and learning3–7 minTwo study plans can use the same amount of practice yet place it at different points in time. Research on spacing asks how the gaps between sessions interact with the delay before knowledge is needed.

Does getting better at a game make you better at other things?

Education and learning3–7 minA game can make you faster, more accurate, and much harder to beat. The interesting question is whether that improvement follows you into a different task, or stays inside the game you practiced.

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