Passive learning

Passive learning is learning that requires no interaction. For example, while attending a lecture, a student may listen to the lecturer while sitting in a bench. Passive learning is a hallmark of passive schooling, based on the Prussian model of education. Passive learning is awfully inefficient due to minimal customization needed to satisfy the Fundamental Law of Learning.

In SuperMemo, passive review is review without active recall (e.g. reading a topic without generating cloze deletions). Passive review is highly inefficient. For that reason, all knowledge in incremental reading should ultimately be converted to active material. Source materials should only be retained in cases when they are needed to recover the context.

This glossary entry is used to explain "I would never send my kids to school" (2017-2024) by Piotr Wozniak