Decades of research across fields point the same way: students learn more when they actively work with material than when they only watch it presented. Lecturing has its place for framing and explaining, but attention fades and understanding stays shallow when students are passive for long stretches.

Active learning means students do something with the ideas: solve a problem, discuss a case, predict an outcome, explain a concept to a peer. These moments surface misunderstandings while you can still address them, and they move knowledge from recognition to use. You do not need to abandon lecture, only to break it up with regular chances for students to work.