As the desire for students to go to university increases, the need to prepare them well for university increases too. Studies show that students excel more at university when they are taught to be active and deep learners.
A 2014 study from the National Academy of Sciences shows that students in a traditional lecture course are one and a half times more likely to fail, compared to students in courses where active learning is encouraged.
Active learning requires students to think harder by engaging in their own learning and utilising skills of analysis, evaluation, problem-solving, synthesis, critical reasoning and creativity. It develops understanding so that students can apply what they have learned to solve problems which is a necessary skill for students to have as they move on to universities, and then careers.
However, some education systems do not support students in playing an active role in their learning. Students are often taught only to memorise facts. As a result, while they have solid subject knowledge, they fail to understand the ‘why’ behind it and are not capable of applying their knowledge to new situations.
Improving teaching is the single most important intervention that a school can make to improve learning and performance. Excellent teachers are highly reflective and focus not only on the outcomes or products of learning, but also on the process of learning. At Cambridge International, this process circles around three big ideas of learning: preconceptions, deep learning and metacognition.
Preconceptions
All students come to the classroom with preconceptions. Preconceptions begin to form in their pre-school years as students try to understand the phenomena around them. These initial understandings, or preconceptions, can sometimes be accurate, providing a foundation for learning to be built on. Sometimes, however, they lead to misconceptions which must be addressed by teachers prior to learning new information. This is true for Indian students, who may learn new concepts for the purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside the classroom. Therefore, effective teaching includes a process of eliciting from students their pre-existing understanding of a subject and providing opportunities to build on or challenge that initial understanding.
Deep learning
The next step would be to adopt deep learning, which requires students to go beyond the understanding of factual knowledge. They are encouraged to grasp facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework and to organise knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application.
Traditional Indian teaching is always based on textbooks, and students often learn a large set of disconnected facts and knowledge instead of skills. However, it is very important to place academic study in a practical, real-world context and encourage students to think critically.
To do this, students must first understand and apply the information to a certain context, and then relate it and apply it to other contexts.
Metacognition
Once a student can apply information in different contexts, they need to improve their understanding of how they learn. Metacognition involves giving students the capacity to be active in planning, monitoring, evaluating, and adjusting their own learning behaviours as they continue to learn. It involves two parts: metacognition knowledge — the students’ knowledge of their own cognitive abilities and strategies available for a specific task — and metacognition regulation (how the students monitor and control their cognitive process)
These three big ideas of learning build on one another, transforming the student into an active learner with the capacity to deepen their knowledge, understand and apply it in different contexts, and monitor their learning.
Universities are becoming more selective as the pool of applicants increases. By arming our students with these skills, we are not only helping them gain more desirable offers from universities — which is the major aim for most Indian students and parents — but also preparing them with the skills they need to succeed at university and in life beyond.
Davis Lee is the Deputy Director, Education at Cambridge Assessment International Education .
