In Walt Whitman’s poem, “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” the speaker—perhaps Whitman himself—concludes his description of an astronomy presentation with these words: Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars. This reaction would bring joy to innumerable astronomy Education and Public Outreach presenters. A student who trades a passive experience to go outside, look up, and observe firsthand the complexity and beauty of the night sky—Yippee! Active and Passive Learning The National Training Laboratories’ “Pyramid of Learning” has been around for decades, attracting both fans and skeptics of its reported results. However, the overall structure is worth considering. Simply summarized, the Pyramid divides methods of learning into passive (lecture, reading, audio-visual, demonstration) and active, or participatory, (discussion, practice doing, teaching others). The Pyramid of Learning also assigns average retention rates to each method of presentation, with the small tip of … Continue reading →