Active Learning Methods and Strategies to Improve Student Conceptual Understanding: Some Considerations from Physics Education Research

Abstract

Active learning methods and strategies are credited to be an important means for the development of student cognitive skills. This paper describes some forms of active learning common in Physics Education and briefly introduces some of the pedagogical and psychological theories on the basis of active learning. Then, some evidence for active learning effectiveness in developing students’ critical cognitive skills and improving their conceptual understanding are examined. An example study regarding the effectiveness of an Inquiry-based learning approach in helping students to build mechanisms of functioning and explicative models, and to identify common aspects in apparently different phenomena, is briefly discussed.