First let me say that all learning is active, cause if the student doesn't get active about actually studying and trying to understand the material, they're not going to learn it. Second, let me say that in my experience, it would take an incredibly bad teacher to keep a good student from learning just as it takes an incredibly good teacher to get a bad student to learn. Third, I would go so far as to say a majority of the pro-active-learning/anti-lecture crowd (at least the ones I've encountered) paint an unfairly dismal picture of what a lecture is. Lectures do not have to be someone "spewing facts" as was previously stated. In fact, if you took the "lecturer" that spewed disjointed facts at their students and forced them to do "active learning" my guess is that the result would be that they spewed disjointed activities. A good teacher has a feel, for lack of a better term, for what information is most suited to lecture delivery, or active dialog or inquiry, or tactile experience, and acts accordingly. There is no one best technique.
Beware the true believer! Tom Martin Western Carolina University
