How students experience themselves as learners can strongly impact their lives. Teachers play a key role in structuring these learning experiences. Using a three-study format, this dissertation explores ways in which teachers use active learning practices to position students as participants in their learning. Findings point to three ways teachers use the powerful potential of active learning to make it possible for students to be more engaged as learners. The first study focuses on the support for learning offered by one instructional practice and suggests ways in which elementary teachers used this practice as a platform to support and scaffold active student participation. The second study examines active learning by considering different participation structures used by elementary teachers and by highlighting how student participation is part of a larger, interactive relationship. The third study considers how 4K-12 teachers in personalized learning environments used active learning to provide different kinds of opportunities for students to practice as engaged participants. Overall findings suggest three ways that teachers used active learning to position students as participants, engaged in their learning. They did this by providing supportive platforms, by providing structures for student participation, and by providing learning environments in which students could experience opportunities to practice as active, engaged learners. Teachers indicated that students need active learning experiences to facilitate and develop their engagement as learners. These studies have implications in developing links between theory and practice in the use of active learning. As researchers consider the complexities of active learning, learning environments, and students as participants, learning theory and teacher practice can inform each other. This requires a research agenda that "addresses the importance of making competent instructional practice visible" (Koschmann, 2011, p.5). Understanding how teachers use active learning to position students as engaged participants is part of this process. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]