According to the NCF 2005, learning is ______ and ______ in its character.

Concept: The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 characterises learning, in its Learning and Knowledge chapter, as a process of constructing knowledge -- not the passive absorption of ready-made facts handed down by a teacher -- and states in as many words that this process is active and social in its character.

Application: That phrase gives both blanks directly: active names the learner's own role in constructing knowledge, and social names that this construction happens through interaction with teachers, peers, and the environment, rather than in isolation.

Cross-check: This matches the constructivist, Vygotsky-influenced position NCF 2005 draws on, which grounds learning in the learner's own activity and in social interaction, not in passively receiving information.

• The pairing that swaps in a passive learner absorbing content contradicts NCF 2005's own statement that this process is active, not passive.

• The pairing built on a passive, simple process does not match either word NCF 2005 actually uses -- its phrase is active and social, not passive and simple.

• The pairing that keeps the learner active but calls the process simple gets one word right and one wrong -- NCF 2005's phrase for the second blank is social, not simple.

So the exact phrase NCF 2005 uses for both blanks is: active, social.