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Active Learning is one of the seven principles established
in "Seven principles of
Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" (1987, AAHE Bulletin).
In The Seven principles in Action, Susan Rickey Hatfield,
editor, David G. Brown and Curtis W. Ellison explain:
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"Active Learning is not merely a set of activities,
but rather an attitude on the part of both students
and faculty that makes learning effective The objective
of Active Learning is to stimulate lifetime habits of
thinking to stimulate students to think about HOW as
well as WHAT they are learning and to increasingly take
responsibility for their own education." (p 40)
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Mel Silberman
contrasts Active Learning and memorization:
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"real learning is not memorization. Most of what we
memorize is lost in hours. Learning can't be swallowed
whole. To retain what has been taught, students must
chew on it."
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Silberman explains that learning comes "in waves" through
repeated exposures of different kinds involving multiple senses.
"When learning is active, the learner is seeking something
an answer to a question, information to solve a problem, or
a way to do a job." (p "???)
Many Active Learning strategies involve collaboration with
peers, providing a secure environment for growth and exploration
of ideas. "What a student discusses with others and what a
student teaches others enable him or her to acquire understanding
and master learning." (Silberman, p6)
  
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