Final answer:
The main difference between active and passive learners lies in engagement with the material. Active learners question, connect, and reflect on the content, leading to greater understanding and retention, while passive learners tend to skim and not fully engage, often forgetting what they read shortly after.
Step-by-step explanation:
Differences Between Active and Passive Learners
Understanding the difference between active and passive reading is crucial for academic success. Active learners engage with the material through questioning, reflecting and connecting ideas. They ask critical questions like "How does this claim follow from that one?" and "Is the evidence adequate to support the claim being made?" This form of active engagement helps to deepen understanding, build critical-thinking skills, and retain knowledge.
On the other hand, passive learners tend to skim the surface of the material, reading without deep engagement, which often leads to a poor grasp of the content. They may read a passage and realize they have no recollection of its content because they haven't actively engaged with the material. Passive reading is characterized by a lack of questioning, which prevents the building of conceptual bridges and limits the ability to retain and apply the information.
To transition from passive to active reading, students should question the author's arguments for fairness, credibility, and plausibility, and consider alternative possibilities. By employing strategies such as taking notes, asking explorative questions, and making connections within the text, active readers can foster a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the material, which is integral for successful learning outcomes.