AI/Paper/19/09/Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning

• Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom

  • PNAS, September 2019

  • Key Findings

    • Controlled study comparing active vs passive instruction in introductory physics (Harvard)
    • Students in active classrooms learned more, but felt they learned less than peers in passive (lecture) settings
    • Increased cognitive effort during active learning causes students to misinterpret productive struggle as poor learning
    • Perception gap risks undermining motivation early in courses — instructors should explicitly frame struggle as evidence of learning, not failure

  • Authors

    • Louis Deslauriers, Logan S. McCarty, Kelly Miller, Kristina Callaghan, Greg Kestin — Harvard University

  • Links

    • Cited in Person/Ethan Mollick/Blog/26/05/Choosing to Stay Human