Teaching methods that work, like active learning

Overview

Variables associated with achievement in higher education: A systematic review of meta-analyses (link) Schneider 2017

The last 2 decades witnessed a surge in empirical studies on the variables associated with achievement in higher education. A number of meta-analyses synthesized these findings. In our systematic literature review, we included 38 meta-analyses investigating 105 correlates of achievement, based on 3,330 effect sizes from almost 2 million students. We provide a list of the 105 variables, ordered by the effect size, and summary statistics for central research topics. The results highlight the close relation between social interaction in courses and achievement. Achievement is also strongly associated with the stimulation of meaningful learning by presenting information in a clear way, relating it to the students, and using conceptually demanding learning tasks. Instruction and communication technology has comparably weak effect sizes, which did not increase over time. Strong moderator effects are found for almost all instructional methods, indicating that how a method is implemented in detail strongly affects achievement. Teachers with high-achieving students invest time and effort in designing the microstructure of their courses, establish clear learning goals, and employ feedback practices. This emphasizes the importance of teacher training in higher education. Students with high achievement are characterized by high self-efficacy, high prior achievement and intelligence, conscientiousness, and the goal-directed use of learning strategies.

Deliberate practice

Why study time does not predict grade point average across college students: Implications of deliberate practice for academic performance (link) Plant 2005

1.1. Deliberate practice and performance

In trying to understand the small or unreliable relationship between study time and GPA, it may be helpful to consider the emerging literature on deliberate practice. Research into deliberate practice indicates that the amount of high quality practice accumulated during individuals’ careers is closely related to their attained performance in a wide range of domains (e.g., Ericsson, 2002; Ericsson & Lehmann, 1996). Studies of the acquisition of expert performance have shown that extensive experience is necessary for individuals to attain high levels of reproducibly superior performance in the domain of expertise (Ericsson & Lehmann, 1996; Simon & Chase, 1973). However, all experiences are not equally helpful and there are qualitative differences between activities loosely referred to as “practice” in their ability to improve performance.

There are clear limits on the benefits of experience. For example, many people know recreational golf and tennis players whose performance has not improved in spite of 20–30 years of active participation. The mere act of regularly engaging in an activity for years and even decades does not appear to lead to improvements in performance, once an acceptable level of performance has been attained (Ericsson, 2002). For example, if someone misses a backhand volley during a tennis game, there may be a long time before the same person gets another chance at that same type of shot. When the chance finally comes, they are not prepared and are likely to miss a similar shot again. In contrast, a tennis coach can give tennis players repeated opportunities to hit backhand volleys that are progressively more challenging and eventually integrated into representative match play. However, unlike recreational play, such deliberate practice requires high levels of concentration with few outside distractions and is not typically spontaneous but carefully scheduled (Ericsson, 1996, Ericsson, 2002). A tennis player who takes advantage of this instruction and then engages in particular practice activities recommended by the teacher for a couple of hours in deeply focused manner (deliberate practice), may improve specific aspects of his or her game more than he or she otherwise might experience after many years of recreational play.

Ericsson, Krampe, and Tesch-Römer (1993) proposed that the acquisition of expert performance was primarily the result of the cumulative effect of engagement in deliberate-practice activities where the explicit goal is to improve particular aspects of performance. 

Active Learning

Active Learning Leads to Higher Grades and Fewer Failing Students in Science, Math, and Engineering