Teaching is a complex endeavor. Combined factors, such as student motivation and the
instructor’s rapport with the students, have the potential to influence how effective any
technique is (Tomcho & Foels, 2008). Thus, any data taken from a classroom is inherently
contaminated and may not provide a perfect picture of effectiveness. Regardless,
based on the current study, active teaching techniques do enhance learning as quiz and
exam scores were higher when students were allowed to interact with the material.
While, results indicated that lecturing was the least effective technique, it should be noted
that students still scored relatively high after lecturing alone, which indicates that learning
was still occurring. Perhaps, most techniques are effective on some level, and the real
decision should be on a construct by construct, and class session by class session basis. In
the end, instructors must decide for themselves, and be confident in their decisions, regarding
what techniques to use, what material to use it with, and how often to use them.
That is probably the real underlying solution to the effectiveness of any teaching technique.