Active learning promotes more positive attitudes towards the course: A meta-analysis

This review aims to analyse the results of individual studies examining the effect of the active learning approach on students’ attitudes towards course by meta-analysis method, also expose the impact of various study characteristics on this effect. As a result of the literature review carried out for this purpose, 144 studies (158 effect sizes) that meet the inclusion criteria were included in the meta-analysis. The result of the analysis by using the random-effects model indicated a moderate overall effect size for the effectiveness of active learning on attitudes towards the course (g = 0.757). This reveals that active learning is more effective on students’ attitudes towards the course than traditional lecture-based methods. According to the analyses made to detect publication bias, it was determined that there was no publication bias in the meta-analysis. Moreover, moderator analyses were conducted for ten possible moderator variables. The moderator analyses indicated that the effect of active learning on attitudes towards the course moderated only by a variable, the developer of the scale. The sub-group analysis of scale developers revealed a strong effect for the studies in which the scale was developed by the research author (g = 1.159) and a moderate effect for the studies in which the scale was developed by another researcher(s) (g = 0.661).