Teaching Practices for Passive and Active Learning in Rural and Urban Elementary Teachers

Abstract

The goal of this study was to characterize, through a questionnaire, the degree of use of teaching practices related with passive and active learning in rural and urban elementary Portuguese teachers. Psychometric analysis of the questionnaire was conducted with a sample of 400 elementary teachers. For studying the degree of teachers’ use of teaching practices related with passive and active learning the questionnaire was applied to a second sample of 140 elementary teachers from urban and rural schools. Use of teaching practices was compared between these two groups through a t-test (independent samples). Main results suggest the existence of a differentiation between a «participatory» and a «non-participatory» form of teaching in the inquired teachers; an higher general use of the former compared with the use of the later; and an higher use of «participatory» teaching in rural teachers than in urban teachers.

Keywords

• Active-passive learning
• Approaches to learning
• Rural education
• Urban education