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Becoming an active student requires an understanding of the responsibilities of students, teachers, and parents. The younger the student, the more dependant that student is on external motivation, but as students age they must become independent. Older students must become self motivated and internally driven to success or they will be passive and prone to failure.

For younger students, those in pre-kindergarten through perhaps the middle elementary years, a large portion of responsibility rests on teachers and parents for motivation.

While all students are different, some more engaged in learning than others, teachers are by and large responsible in the classroom setting for student participation. Curricula must be challenging yet captivating for young students, for if their classroom lacks a certain fascination they will more than likely lose interest.

In regard to the homework of a younger student, parental coaching is important for motivation. In this way parents must be incredibly involved in their child's education. Unfortunately, this is not always as accessible as desired: parents are busy; but it must be a priority for parents, because young children are motivated to play, not to work. The motivation to perform duties must be passed from parent to child.

Older students, by which I mean any student from the upper elementary grade level through high school and beyond, have within them a capacity for self motivation. This self motivation, however, is often dedicated on things much different than education. As stated earlier, the motivation behind responsibility must be taught, preferably by parents to their children, but should also be exemplified by teachers and others within society.

Classes for older students must, as with younger students, be engaging, interesting, yet cannot become too easy. Teachers are responsible for taking the most boring subject matter and getting their students interested in it. Parents are responsible for keeping their children accountable in both classroom behavior and homework completion.

Now, as to becoming more active, it is imperative for students to desire learning. Knowledge truly is power, and therefore a thirst for knowledge should easily be seen as wise. Society is becoming increasingly dependant on the well educated. Appreciated jobs require higher education while the undesirable jobs are left to the unlearned. This fact alone should be a motivating factor in active learning.

Asking questions is key to active learning.

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