The effects of ICAP learning activities on learning outcomes

Abstract

Background The Interactive-Constructive-Active-Passive (ICAP) framework makes assumptions about the relationships between observable types of learning activities (passive, active, constructive, interactive), cognitive processes, and learning outcomes. Yet, rigorous empirical studies are still lacking establishing the validity of the ICAP framework. Aims This study investigates the effects of student engagement in passive, active, constructive and interactive learning activities on their surface and deep knowledge gain, and their motivation. Additionally, the study aims to determine the associations between students’ cognitive processes, their learning activities, as well as surface and deep knowledge gain. Sample Participants were 249 pre-service teachers. Methods After reading a text on multimedia learning, participants were asked to reread the text (passive condition), to underline central information in the text (active condition), to work on three open-ended tasks addressing the text (constructive condition), or to work on the same tasks in pairs (interactive condition). Results No statistically significant effects of condition on surface or deep knowledge could be detected. Regarding motivation, participants in the interactive condition reported statistically significantly higher levels of perceived relatedness compared to all other conditions. Furthermore, only participants in the interactive condition reported statistically significantly higher levels of interactive cognitive processes compared to those in all other conditions. Constructive cognitive processes were statistically significantly negatively associated with deep knowledge gain. Conclusion The findings suggest that the empirical foundation supporting the ICAP framework may not yet be sufficiently robust. Yet, more research is needed that applies a more rigorous methodology exploring the ICAP framework.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Learning and Instruction, 2026 · DOI ↗