Introduction.

The current educational scenario has required incorporating active-participatory methodologies for the construction of knowledge together with students into the traditional teaching-learning paradigm.

Objective.

To verify the differences between the application of active participatory methodologies with the traditional paradigm in the learning of students in the health area.

Material and methods.

A systematic review was carried out in the bibliographic bases Medline, LILACS, ERIC and SciELO, using the search strategy: ‘students, health occupations' AND ‘patient simulation' OR ‘standardized patient' OR ‘hybrid simulation' OR ‘high fidelity simulation training' OR ‘simulation Training' OR ‘problem based learning' OR ‘inverted classroom' OR ‘flipped classroom' AND ‘traditional classroom' AND learning OR ‘Kolb´s learning' OR ‘Kirkpatrick model' OR ‘soft skills test'.

Results.

Of the 1,085 records identified, 11 articles were included for analysis. In these articles, when comparing the traditional classroom with the active participatory methodologies, the latter obtained better results in the learning variables, confidence in the acquisition of learning, critical thinking and skills, but there was no statistical significance in most of the studies.

Conclusions.

No statistically significant differences were found in student learning between the use of active learning methodologies and the traditional paradigm.

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