The active methodologies require a deep revision of the classroom dynamics known as "traditional", and highlight the need to consider the student as an active subject. Although we recognize the broad potential of these proposals for didactics, we argue that when supported by an uncritical discourse, active methodologies can open the way to new technicalities and become just a fad. From this premise, the text draws attention to two points of reflection. First, we see that these proposals have been part of educational theory and practice for more than a century, with contributions from thinkers such as Dewey and Bruner, among others. Its current dissemination as "innovative" methods is due to the actual need of anchoring learning around concrete problems related to the future professions, and to the advent of Information and Communication Technologies, which represent the ideal platform for its development. Second, we question the idea that active methodologies are the solution to the education crisis, which implies a reductionist view of the complexity of teaching and learning processes. It is important to emphasize the need for education to withdraw its exclusive attention in individuals - the teacher as well as the student - to turn to social and cultural groups, to value the body in the construction of knowledge, as well as the interaction processes and the influence of context in this creation. Thus, in the perspective of complex thinking, we defend that the relationship between teaching and learning is not only active but also situated.