The term "active learning" is often used in conjunction with instructional reform, but what does it mean? Surely if a student is working with manipulatives to grasp a math concept we'd say the student is active rather than passive, but I believe active learning goes well beyond the task at hand. If students are actively engaged in tasks that the teacher creates, the teacher selects the time for, and the teacher evaluates, just how active a role do those students actually play in their overall education? Ultimately, if students are to become lifelong learners, they need to learn to set their own goals, develop a reasonable plan of action, identify and utilize the necessary resources, and evaluate their progress. These skills will be acquired in a classroom where active learning means being an active participant in the entire learning process. The following four stages represent the learning process as it takes place in many classrooms:

1. decide what needs to be learned when (curriculum)
2. decide upon the activity and participatory structure
3. do the activity
4. assess learning

In very traditional classrooms, the teacher determines the curriculum, usually based on a district plan. The teacher, or often a textbook publisher, decides upon the activity and how students will participate with others. When the student does the activity, the teacher directs it and oversees it, often calling out directions while students follow along. Finally, the teacher grades the product. All in all, the student is offered little, if any, active participation in the decision-making aspects of the learning process.

In learner-active classrooms, students and teachers negotiate the curriculum. Certainly some non-negotiables exist in terms of broad units of study and expected skill acquisition, but students help establish the focus of what will be studied based on their interests and questions. Students play a role in deciding upon the activities that will be used. And where some activities are not necessarily appropriate for all students, individual students make choices. The student is responsible for carrying out the activity with the teacher acting as a resource. That's not to say that teachers don't oversee the learning process, but they play a much less overt role. Finally the students assess their progress with input from and agreement of the teacher.

The move from the traditional model of education to the learner-active model requires first and foremost establishing a new perspective on the purpose of school and the role of the teacher. Is the purpose of school to pass on a finite collection of information and rote skills to prepare students for work in the factory? Or is it to create lifelong learners capable of handling various challenges that come their way in an ever-changing society? Is the role of the teacher to direct and supervise students? Or is it to create a structure in which students learn how to make responsible decisions?

Teachers in their quest to create learner-active classrooms question everything they do in the classroom to find the balance between allowing students to take responsibility for learning and allowing them to facilitate the learning process. Administrators, too, need to question how they interact with those whose professional development they facilitate to ensure that they are modeling a learner-active philosophy.