Active Engagement
According to Fisher (2009), and Partin (2009), students typically spend the majority of their school day listening or waiting for something to happen. Fisher elaborates, “You cannot get good at something you do not do. If our goal as educators is to encourage thinking and improve academic achievement, we have to create learning environments that facilitate engagement and time on task” (p. 175).
Covering a subject doesn't always allow students to uncover meaning, or to discover new applications. Traditional educators would lecture to their students and expect the information to be retained, at least until an exam. We now know that the brain doesn't function to its best ability with these methods. A person's brain needs opportunities to process and participate. Once information is taken in, our brains want to know what to do with it, how to apply it, evaluate it, and use it creatively.
Read the article How To Engage Students in Learning, by Vito Perrone. Note the list of eight common elements students said engaged them intellectually and emotionally. Notice that five of these elements are student-centered approaches to learning.
Students are more engaged when they develop ownership of knowledge and skills, and are able to define, create, and do something as a result of learning. Ownership of knowledge and skills enables students to invest in their own learning. This is not something that comes naturally to most students, but must be developed gradually over time.