Switch to active learning ‘boosts grades in developing world’

Active learning could help significantly boost the performance of students in developing countries, according to a new study.

Authors say the process – which encourages students to proactively take in information, rather than passively absorbing it – could help enhance science education in developing nations and bring about education reform from the bottom up.

Researchers studied the course results of two years of active learning methods used among 2,145 physics and astronomy students from the Middle East and North Africa region at Sultan Qaboos University, in Muscat, Oman.

Students were taught using active learning methods developed at US institutions – including reading quizzes, peer instruction and tutorials, where they were encouraged to work collaboratively.

They also used modern technology, such as the Google Classroom app on their phones, to help them engage better “both inside and outside the classroom, with a technology that they are extremely adept at”.

Their grades were then compared to other students taught using more traditional methods as control subjects.

Authors Alaa Ibrahim, Nidhal Sulaiman and Issam Ali found that those taught using active learning practices improved student performance by 9 per cent, and they were 25 per cent more likely to think that the quality of learning had improved as well.

The performance gap between the strongest and weakest students narrowed by 17 per cent, while the failure rate in these courses fell to a third of that in other classes.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the authors say improving STEM education has been a focal point of many studies, but reform has mainly been driven by “top-down approaches”.

“A shift to active learning pedagogies can potentially address these challenges, but it has thus far been predominantly implemented and understood in developed countries,” they add.

“Thanks to the growing accessibility of open education resources and ubiquitous technologies, education reform can now be carried out from the bottom up.”

Wider usage of active learning could reduce the cost of repeating courses, produce a more capable STEM workforce and even boost education-driven economic growth by 1 per cent of gross domestic product, it is estimated.

And the study says its use of open-source methods instead of traditional, dedicated resources means that it could easily be replicated by other universities in the MENA region and other developing countries.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com