Educators continually seek ways to better engage students in their classroom lessons. This can seem like a huge feat for educators in the age of constant distractions and instant gratification. However, the benefits of encouraging students to become more engaged in their learning can make all the difference in today's classrooms and in the lives of students. Continue reading to learn a few simple ways you can easily implement a more active learning approach in your classroom.
What is Active Learning?
Active learning is a teaching style that engages students in deeper learning through investigation, discussion, and critical thinking. Active learning goes beyond simply hearing and absorbing information; students must become participants, either individually or with peers, to fully comprehend the lesson. A typical active learning activity should engage the student, be short in duration, have a meaningful goal, a task at hand, and a clear outcome.
Now, don't get overwhelmed yet! Active learning doesn't have to be complicated. Chances are, you are already incorporating active learning into your classroom at some level. For example, many educators incorporate the Think-Pair-Share strategy into their regular teaching routine. Students think of a question or answer on their own, then discuss it with a partner, and then all together, where they share their ideas or answers with the class.
What are the Benefits of Active Learning?
The benefits of active learning are immense! More active learning in a classroom can increase retention, improve critical thinking skills, promote collaboration, and increase engagement. These are all essential parts of an effective and healthy classroom. Active learning helps students become more engaged participants so they can acquire these essential skills and better comprehend information. Including more active learning in classrooms might actually make teachers' roles easier over time as students develop skills that help them learn more effectively.
5 Techniques to Help You Implement Active Learning
You don't have to change your lesson plans, but you can easily make them more active by incorporating these techniques. Don't feel the need to implement all of these at once; perhaps you begin with one technique and come back later to add another! Test out a few different ones to see which ones work best for you and your students.
1. "Stop-and-Do" Exercises. There are so many stop-and-do exercises that you can include in your lesson plans. Chances are, you've probably used one before! A stop-and-do exercise requires you to pause the lesson and have your students engage in an activity to reinforce their understanding of the information. Some examples of stop-and-do exercises include:
2. The Snowball Method. Have you heard of this method before? Help students learn to brainstorm, collaborate, and think critically by giving each student three sticky notes (or regular paper). Students write one idea/answer on each sticky note. Next, students pair up, and they narrow down their six ideas to the three best ones. Merge the pairs into groups of four and continue this process until the whole class has come up with three final ideas/answers they all believe are the best! (You could also put the unused ideas into a pile to create a real snowball effect!)
3. Meaningful Field Trips. Field trips are an excellent way to get students excited about what they're learning. Field trips typically include hands-on experiences that help students engage with classroom material and see it applied to the real world (depending on the type of field trip). But for when a field trip isn't practical or in the budget, check out Mobile Ed's mobile field trips, where we'll bring the field trip to you. No travel costs, permission slips, or transportation needed!
4. Chain Notes. This method is exactly what it sounds like! Teach your students to collaborate and brainstorm by creating a prompt and passing it around one at a time to all students. Students should build off of other students' ideas, creating a large web of creativity. With this method, even students who are hesitant to speak up can participate.
5. A Human Tableau. With this method, students use their bodies to create a living picture of a concept, event, or process. Students will have to use collaboration, critical thinking, and body language to accurately communicate the meaning of the concept without the materials they are accustomed to using. The trick is that students can't talk to each other! And to add another fun twist, have other students guess what that group is trying to convey. Watch the creativity (and giggles!) happen as your students work together to understand and create a concept of your choosing.
Conclusion
Mobile Ed's mission from the get-go has always been to get students excited about learning, because when they're excited to learn, they learn more effectively, changing the course of their academic careers. For 46 years, our team at Mobile Ed has created school assemblies that engage students through interactive experiences. We'd love to help your students become more invested in their learning by visiting your school. Click the button below to learn more information or to let us know you're interested!