--- title: "Keep the learner doing, not watching: active learning" url: "https://duckyhelper.com/research/principles/active-learning/" description: "Active learning in plain words: the 225-study PNAS meta-analysis, why active classes feel like less learning, and how DuckyHelper keeps you doing." updated: "2026-10-09" --- Active learning # Keep the learner doing, not watching Students learn more when they do things in class instead of only listening. A review of 225 studies found exam scores rose and students in lecture-only classes were 1.5 times more likely to fail. Active learning can feel like learning less, even when it is learning more. DuckyHelper is built to keep you doing: predicting, answering, drawing and clicking through it yourself. > “student performance on examinations and concept inventories increased by 0.47 SDs under active learning” [Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410-8415.](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111) From Freeman et al. (2014), PNAS. Reproduced for commentary. Source: [Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410-8415.](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111). In DuckyHelper ## You do it, it guides In the film, a learner is asked whether a 1 second swing needs a longer or shorter string, then drags the length to find out. Lessons are built around things you do: - Predict, then play (Mac and web) - You do, it guides (Mac and web) - Learn an app by using it (Mac app) - Graphs you touch (Mac and web) ## What the research found Scott Freeman and colleagues pooled 225 studies of science, engineering and math courses. Exam and concept test scores rose under active learning, by 0.47 standard deviations on average (the line quoted at the top of this page), and students in traditional lecture classes were 1.5 times more likely to fail. A Harvard physics study then asked students how much they felt they learned. Students in active classes learned more but felt they learned less: > when students experience the increased cognitive effort associated with active learning, they initially take that effort to signify poorer learning (Deslauriers et al., 2019) Struggle can come first. In Manu Kapur's studies of productive failure, students who wrestled with hard problems before being taught did worse at first and better later: > suggesting a latent productivity in what initially seemed to be failure (Kapur, 2008) Schwartz and Bransford (1998) found that exploring contrasting cases first prepared students to learn more from a later explanation. The ICAP framework (Chi and Wylie, 2014) ranks the kinds of doing: constructing your own ideas, and building them with someone, beat merely being active. ## Feature by feature ### Predict, then play Simulations you run yourself: drag the pendulum, move the sliders, read the numbers. The tutor asks you to guess what will happen first, then talks about the changes you make. *Mac and web.* ### You do, it guides Lessons go back and forth: short steps, a question after each one, and quizzes you answer on the spot. *Mac and web.* ### Learn an app by using it Tutorials happen in your own apps, with your own clicks and typing; Ducky moves on when you did the step. *Mac app.* ### Graphs you touch Hover, pan and zoom a graph, and drag the sliders for its letters to see what each one does. *Mac and web.* What this page does not claim These studies tested other people, other schools and other tools. DuckyHelper has not been tested in a study like these, so none of these results are DuckyHelper's results. They are the reasons behind how it teaches. ## The papers on this page ### Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics Freeman et al., 2014. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Across 225 studies, active learning raised exam scores and cut failure rates. ### Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom Deslauriers et al., 2019. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Students in active classes learned more but felt they learned less. ### Productive Failure Kapur, 2008. Cognition and Instruction. Students who struggled first with hard problems later transferred knowledge better. ### A Time For Telling Schwartz & Bransford, 1998. Cognition and Instruction. Comparing contrasting cases first prepares students to learn from a later lecture. ### The ICAP Framework: Linking Cognitive Engagement to Active Learning Outcomes Chi & Wylie, 2014. Educational Psychologist. Learning rises from passive to active to constructive to interactive engagement. ### How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition Bransford, Brown & Cocking (eds.), National Research Council, 2000. National Academies Press (book). Synthesis of learning science: how experts differ from novices and how transfer works. ### The Knowledge-Learning-Instruction Framework: Bridging the Science-Practice Chasm to Enhance Robust Student Learning Koedinger, Corbett & Perfetti, 2012. Cognitive Science. The Knowledge-Learning-Instruction framework: match the kind of instruction to the kind of knowledge and learning involved. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is active learning? Teaching where students do things, such as answering questions, solving problems, discussing and predicting, instead of only listening. Freeman et al. (2014) found it raised exam performance across 225 studies. ### Why does active learning feel harder? Deslauriers et al. (2019) found students in active classes learned more but felt they learned less, because they read the extra effort as a sign of poor learning. The effort is part of the learning. ### How does DuckyHelper keep me active? It asks you questions instead of lecturing, quizzes you in the moment, lets you run simulations and graphs yourself, and in the Mac app teaches apps by having you do each step. ## Sources 1. [Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410-8415.](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111) (accessed 2026-10-09) 2. [Deslauriers, L., McCarty, L. S., Miller, K., Callaghan, K., & Kestin, G. (2019). Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(39), 19251-19257.](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821936116) (accessed 2026-10-09) 3. [Kapur, M. (2008). Productive Failure. Cognition and Instruction, 26(3), 379-424.](https://doi.org/10.1080/07370000802212669) (accessed 2026-10-09) 4. [Schwartz, D. L., & Bransford, J. D. (1998). A Time For Telling. Cognition and Instruction, 16(4), 475-522.](https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532690xci1604_4) (accessed 2026-10-09) 5. [Chi, M. T. H., & Wylie, R. (2014). The ICAP Framework: Linking Cognitive Engagement to Active Learning Outcomes. Educational Psychologist, 49(4), 219-243.](https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2014.965823) (accessed 2026-10-09) 6. [National Research Council; Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.) (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition. National Academies Press (book).](https://doi.org/10.17226/9853) (accessed 2026-10-09) 7. [Koedinger, K. R., Corbett, A. T., & Perfetti, C. (2012). The Knowledge-Learning-Instruction Framework: Bridging the Science-Practice Chasm to Enhance Robust Student Learning. Cognitive Science, 36(5), 757-798.](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1551-6709.2012.01245.x) (accessed 2026-10-09) ## Related principles ### What the evidence says about AI tutors Randomized trials of AI tutors so far: Harvard physics, Ghana, Nigeria, Tutor CoPilot, and the PNAS study where AI help hurt. What they show, and do not. ### Scaffolding: just enough help, one step at a time What scaffolding means in learning science (Wood, Bruner and Ross; Vygotsky), why help should fade, and how DuckyHelper's hints and tutorials do it. ### Mix it up: interleaved practice Interleaved practice in plain words: why mixing problem types helps learners tell them apart, what Rohrer and Taylor found, and what DuckyHelper does today. ## Keep reading ### Explain it back in your own words: self-explanation The self-explanation effect: why students who explain ideas to themselves learn more (Chi et al.), the ICAP framework, and how DuckyHelper asks you to think. ### Teach one on one: the 2 sigma problem Bloom's 2 sigma problem in plain words: what one-on-one tutoring did in the studies, what later reviews found, and how DuckyHelper tutors. ### The learning-science library: 100+ papers 100+ real learning-science papers behind DuckyHelper, sorted by principle, each with a citation, a link to the publisher and a one-line summary. ### Small sandboxes you run yourself: drag the ball, move a slider, read the numbers Ask DuckyHelper to show you how a pendulum, a projectile or a circuit works and get a small sandbox to run yourself: drag, change a slider, read the numbers. ### Say quiz me: tap, type math or answer true or false, and every miss comes with why Say quiz me and DuckyHelper writes a quick quiz on what you are learning: tap, type math or answer true or false, and every miss comes with why. ## Ready to learn DuckyHelper is ready on your Mac. Learn with Eddy on its blackboard, or with Ducky right on your screen. [Download for Mac](https://duckyhelper.com/download/) [See what it does](https://duckyhelper.com/features/) The Mac app needs Apple silicon and macOS 14 Sonoma or later. There is no Chromebook, Windows or web version right now.