{
  "title": "Active learning: selected research evidence",
  "verifiedOn": "2026-10-08",
  "scope": "Selected published studies and reviews; not a systematic review or Code Nexus learner-outcome study.",
  "freeman2014": {
    "title": "Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics",
    "doi": "10.1073/pnas.1319030111",
    "sourceUrl": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4060654/",
    "publicationYear": 2014,
    "population": "Undergraduate STEM courses",
    "totalStudies": 225,
    "failureRateStudies": 67,
    "examPerformanceStudies": 158,
    "failureRate": {
      "unit": "percent",
      "definition": "Course failure, usually a D or F grade or withdrawal; see the original paper for inclusion criteria.",
      "traditionalLecture": 33.8,
      "activeLearning": 21.8,
      "sourceLocation": "Results paragraph and Figure 1B",
      "summary": "Reported average rates, not a pooled learner-level dataset."
    },
    "examPerformance": {
      "value": 0.47,
      "unit": "standard deviations",
      "measure": "Weighted standardized mean difference (Hedges's g)",
      "sourceLocation": "Results, first paragraph"
    },
    "limitations": "Interventions and settings varied. These results do not estimate Code Nexus outcomes, certification pass rates or employment outcomes."
  },
  "roedigerKarpicke2006": {
    "title": "Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention",
    "doi": "10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x",
    "sourceUrl": "https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x",
    "publicationYear": 2006,
    "materials": "Prose passages",
    "finding": "Restudying did better on the five-minute test; prior recall testing did better on delayed tests.",
    "verificationScope": "Publisher abstract; no numerical retention percentage is reproduced.",
    "limitations": "Recall of text does not directly measure programming skill."
  },
  "dunlosky2013": {
    "title": "Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques",
    "doi": "10.1177/1529100612453266",
    "sourceUrl": "https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1529100612453266",
    "publicationYear": 2013,
    "sourceLocation": "Table 4",
    "ratings": [
      { "technique": "Practice testing", "utility": "high" },
      { "technique": "Distributed practice", "utility": "high" },
      { "technique": "Elaborative interrogation", "utility": "moderate" },
      { "technique": "Self-explanation", "utility": "moderate" },
      { "technique": "Interleaved practice", "utility": "moderate" },
      { "technique": "Summarization", "utility": "low" },
      { "technique": "Highlighting", "utility": "low" },
      { "technique": "Keyword mnemonic", "utility": "low" },
      { "technique": "Imagery use for text learning", "utility": "low" },
      { "technique": "Rereading", "utility": "low" }
    ],
    "limitations": "Qualitative ratings from a 2013 review, not percentages or a current ranking of every teaching method."
  },
  "deslauriers2019": {
    "title": "Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom",
    "doi": "10.1073/pnas.1821936116",
    "sourceUrl": "https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1821936116",
    "publicationYear": 2019,
    "population": "Introductory college physics students",
    "finding": "Students in the active condition learned more while reporting a lower feeling of learning than those in the passive condition.",
    "limitations": "A controlled classroom comparison; discomfort alone is not evidence of useful learning."
  },
  "kirschner2006": {
    "title": "Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work",
    "doi": "10.1207/s15326985ep4102_1",
    "sourceUrl": "https://www.math.kent.edu/~reed/Instructors/MATH%2011010/kirschner_Sweller_Clark.pdf",
    "publicationYear": 2006,
    "finding": "The authors argue for instructional guidance, especially for novices, with its advantage diminishing as prior knowledge increases.",
    "limitations": "An analysis and review, not one experiment or a numerical comparison of coding platforms."
  },
  "reuse": {
    "chartCredit": "Chart: Code Nexus. Data: Freeman et al. (2014), doi:10.1073/pnas.1319030111.",
    "chartPermission": "Code Nexus permits reuse of its original chart design with attribution. This does not grant rights to the source papers or their figures.",
    "rawDataNotice": "Selected published summary results and qualitative evidence records; no participant-level data."
  }
}