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193-为什么我劝你主动学习？​

The Active Learning Method​
为什么我劝你主动学习？​
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"Active learning" means you participate, collaborate with others, and apply concepts to the real world. It requires hard mental effort but leads to better retention  and an understanding of the material that can be transferred to other situations.​
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主动学习意味着你需要参与，与他人合作，并将书本概念应用于现实世界。这种方式需要付出更多的脑力劳动，但可以使人更好地记忆，更好地理解教学内容，并应用到其他情况当中。​
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To understand why active learning works so well, it helps to know that when our brain decides what to remember, it asks itself two fundamental questions: Can I understand? And do I need to know? When you ask “Can I understand?” your brain always puts the new information on the foundation of existing knowledge. ​
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想要了解为什么主动学习如此有效？我们需要先知道，当我们的大脑决定要记住什么的时候，它会问自己两个基本问题：“我理解吗？”以及“我需要知道吗？”当你问“我理解吗？”，你的大脑总是会将新信息放在已有知识的基础上。​
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If the foundation is missing the brain has no idea what to do with it and as a result, it throws it away. In other words, your brain needs to build foundational neuron connections for new information to attach to - which is both why active learning is more mental work, but also essential for learning. ​
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如果缺少相关的基础，大脑就会不知道该怎么处理这一新信息。于是就会选择把它丢掉。换言之，你的大脑需要建立基础的神经元连接，才能让新信息接入进来，这既是为什么主动学习要做更多脑力劳动的原因，也是学习的必要条件。​
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When we ask ourselves: Do I need to know? Our brain separates between the material it finds worth to remember and the one it can forget. If it’s unlikely that new information will ever be used again, the brain is smart enough to throw it away. If your brain finds that the information is needed again, say it could increase your social status, the brain will store it in long-term memory. To stay there and be easily recalled, you just have to periodically use or think of it.​
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当我们问自己“我需要知道吗？”的时候，我们的大脑会将这些新内容分开，找出其中值得记住的和可以忘记的。如果新的信息不太可能再次被用到，那么大脑会聪明地选择丢弃它。如果大脑发现这些信息会再次被需要，比如说它可以提高你的社会地位，大脑就会将其储存在长期记忆中，将内容储存到长期记忆以便于回想，你只需要定期使用或想一想它。​
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To understand how active learning is applied in classrooms, let’s look at the teachings of Prof Carl Wieman, a Nobel prize-winning physicist and a leading proponent of the method. There are four steps to it.​
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要了解主动学习在课堂上的应用，让我们来看看诺贝尔物理学奖得主以及该方法的主要倡导者卡尔·维曼教授的教学。分为四个步骤：​
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Step 1: Prior to class, the students read up on the fundamentals of the lesson, so they get an idea of the terms and basic phenomena. ​
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步骤一：课前；学生要读懂当堂课的基础知识以对术语和基本现象有所了解。​
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In class, Professor Wieman starts with a brief introduction and then gives questions to solve. He will have students use clickers, a little device on which students can answer multiple-choice questions. Alternatively or for more complex problems, worksheets can be handed out.​
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课堂上，维曼教授先做一个简单的介绍，然后给出问题让学生解决。他让学生使用答题器作答，一个小装置，学生可以用它来回答选择题，而对于更复杂的问题，则会直接发放答题纸。​
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Step 2: Wieman projects a problem and asks all the students to select one of three possible answers using their clicker. ​
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步骤二：维曼教授投出问题，并要求所有学生使用答题器从三个可能的答案中选择一个。​
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This has two benefits: First, the teacher gets an idea of how many of his students already understand the topic, and second, the students are now focused on the question. They want to know if they were right! It is important though that the question is both challenging and interesting. All this takes less than 5 minutes.​
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这样做有两个好处，首先，老师可以了解有多少学生已经理解了这个主题。第二，学生们会更关注问题，他们想知道自己是否正确。重要的是，这个问题既要有挑战性，又要有趣味性，这一步骤花费不到五分钟。  ​
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Step 3：Without telling the students how they voted and following Eric Mazur’s Peer Instruction Method — which involves questions, peer discussions, votes and group discussions — the students then discuss the question and their answers with one or two classmates, ideally with someone who disagrees with their own opinion.​
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步骤三：不告诉学生投票结果。按照埃里克·马祖尔的同伴教学方法，即提问、同学之间讨论、投票和小组讨论。于是接下来，学生要与一两个同学讨论这个问题，还有他们的答案，最好是与和自己意见不同的人讨论。​
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During the discussion, the students have to come up with a reason for their answer and why the others may be wrong. Meanwhile, the instructor is circling around, listening in to gauge student thinking, and answering brief questions. Then there will be a second clicker vote. And only now the results will be shown.​
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在讨论的过程中，学生们必须为自己的答案提出一个理由，以及要说出为什么其他答案可能是错的。于此同时，老师会四下巡视倾听以了解学生的想法，并回答简短的问题，然后会进行第二次答题器投票，这次才会将结果展示出来。​
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Typically the second vote will be much better than the first as students learn a great deal from their discussions. An ideal question will have about ⅓ correct on the first vote and 85% correct on the second. All this takes around 7 minutes.​
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一般来说，第二轮投票结果会比第一轮好得多，因为学生们会从他们的讨论中学到很多东西。一个好的问题在第一轮投票会有三分之一的正确率，第二次的正确率则是85%左右，这一步大概需要七分钟。​
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Step 4：Now the professor leads a follow-up discussion with all the students to provide feedback, exploring the different reasoning, which one is correct, and importantly, which is incorrect and why? Only at the very end, professor Wieman will explain the correct solution and answer follow-up questions.​
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步骤四：在这一步教授会带领大家进行后续讨论，让所有学生提供反馈，探讨不同的思路，哪一个是正确的以及最重要的？哪一个是错误的，还有错误的原因。只有到最后，维曼教授才会解释正确的解决方法并回答后续问题。​
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Ascertaining the students' understanding from the questions they ask, he decides if it is time to move on. All of which takes around 10 minutes. There are three reasons why active learning works so well.​
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从学生提出的问题中了解学生对这堂课内容的理解，再决定是否继续后面的内容，这一步耗时十分钟左右。主动学习之所以效果好，有三个方面的原因：​
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First: The students are actively working on interesting problems. And as they all voted for an answer right at the beginning, they have a stake in the outcome. That means their brains decide that the information covered is important to be remembered and are hence more receptive for learning.​
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首先，学生们积极研究有趣的问题，因为他们一开始就投了一个自己认为正确的答案，结果就变得与他们息息相关。这意味着他们的大脑会决定这一问题涵盖的信息是重要的，需要记住，因此更容易被接受学习。 ​
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Second: By solving problems alone and in groups they dive deeply into the material. Explaining to a peer engages novel mental processes. As a result they construct new synaptic pathways inside their brains.​
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第二，通过单独和集体解决问题，他们深入课堂内容，对问题的解释还会涉及到新的思考过程，使得学生们得以在大脑中构建新的突触通路。​
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Third: The explanation from the teacher comes only once the students already formed their own thoughts about the concept. At this point, the explanation makes more sense as the brain can connect the new information to all the thought it had just built. The correct answers have a solid foundation. A large body of research has shown big differences in the outcomes between passive and active learning.​
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第三，只有当学生对概念已经形成自己的想法时，老师才会进行解释，这时的解释会更有用。因为大脑可以把新的信息和它刚刚建立的思想联系起来，正确答案有了坚实的基础。大量的研究表明，被动学习和主动学习所得到的结果有很大不同。​
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In one carefully executed experiment, physics instructors taught their course in two ways:  some classes were taught in a conventional style and others using active learning. Even though the teachers were the same and the students were similar, on average the active learners doubled their understanding when they were tested at the end of the course.​
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在一个严谨的实验中，物理教师用两种方式教授课程，一些班级采用传统的教学方式，另一些则使用主动学习法。尽管老师都是一样的，学生们都是差不多的，在课程结束时进行测试时，主动学习者对内容的理解平均提高了一倍。​
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Other experiments have shown that long term retention is higher as well. Students that take a conventional lecture that is followed by a test, forget around 90% of the material within 6 months. In an active learning environment students can retain more than 70% of what they have learned two years later.​
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其他实验表明，长期记忆率也会更高。参加常规课程并在之后进行考试的学生，六个月内会忘掉百分之九十以上的内容。而在主动学习的环境中，学生可以在两年后仍记得百分之七十以上的学习内容。​
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Sometimes teachers show a problem and then demonstrate to the class how to solve it. They believe that they can just transfer their own thinking into the student’s head through an explanation. ​
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有些老师会先展示一个问题，然后向全班同学演示如何解决这个问题。他们认为只要通过讲解，就可以把自己的思维转移到学生的脑海中去。​
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Unfortunately, for new ideas, a brain doesn’t work that way.  Unless the brain actively constructs those ideas within, it is as if the material was never heard. ​
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不幸的是，对于新的信息，大脑无法通过这样的方式去处理。除非大脑在内部主动构建这些思想，否则这些内容根本无法在其中停留。​
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How about you? Have you ever learned in an active learning environment? And if so, how does it compare to learning the conventional way?​
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你呢？你有没有在主动学习的环境中学习过。如果有的话，与传统的学习方式相比，它的效果如何？​