Active Learning. How to succeed in school - and life. Active Learning was first developed as a summer seminar program in 1986 by former teachers Peter Lenn and Landon Carter, who saw an important element missing in American Education> Most studentes never learn how to learn. The two educators based their program on the notion that it's a lack of proper study skills- not brains or motivation- that leads to problems in school. ACTIVE LEARNING fills this gap by giving teenagers the study techniques and self-management strategies they need to succeed in their classes - and in life.