“Show me how to do, without telling me what to do”! This is the novel mantra of visual learning. Contrasting this with traditional learning, students then used to listen to lectures delivered by teachers. Becoming a part of the black-board classrooms, they used to put their heads into volumes of printed study material. Now is the generation of video learning when educational videos are played in classrooms as a part of visual learning strategies. Supported by an educational curriculum, these videos help students in their pursuit of assimilating knowledge from various sources.
If you are curious to know the benefits of visual learning, here are the numerous ways in which this modern method of learning and teaching has transformed the way education is imparted.
Visuals Are Better Tools For Learning
In line with the famous maxim “A picture is worth a thousand words”, an image has a profound impact on the brain of a student. If you are a student who is learning through educational videos, you will be using a large portion of your mental power. This is because of the fact that a major part of your brain is devoted exclusively to process visual information.
When you look at images, you are hastening the responses of your brain. Unlike in traditional learning when all you get to see is black and white text, visual learning through images helps you retain the information for a longer time. Your mind will be able to recapitulate a picture faster when compared to simple text. Hence, it is through videos that you can process information in a jiffy and store it in your mind for immediate retrieval.
Makes Story Telling An Effective Way to Master a Subject
Through visual learning, you are concentrating only on watching the animated video without reading any text. Every frame of an educational video has a different story to tell. Playing a video introduces you to the way in which a situation occurs. You then begin to chalk out a flow of information when one scene follows another, moving from one concept into another. This way, you will be able to effectively narrate a story of the topic by figuratively understanding certain abstract concepts which are difficult to comprehend by reading the text. It is through these visual demonstrations that you can hasten up the process of learning.
Self Help is the Best Help
Educational videos are perfect self-study learning tools. You can pick up from a host of audio and video presentations along with informative webinars which can teach you about the topic of your choice. You don’t need a tutor who will talk about the subject at length. On the contrary, these videos also help you engage in self-study which creates a profound impact on your brain; compared to reading and memorizing from a printed textbook.
Eases the Learning Process
A smart classroom which supports video presentations lends a helping hand to students with different IQ levels. Given the fact that it takes students of varying intelligence levels to make a class, visual learning eases the process of learning for all students. Drifting away from learning and studying from printed texts and notes, it is through visual learning that you can promote a better interaction between students and teachers.
Saves Classroom Preparation Time
A traditional classroom will need the faculty to take time to draw or write subject details on the board. As a perfect time-saving mode of learning, visual learning calls for the airing of subject information in the form of educative short films and animated visuals which can be accessed in a jiffy.
You Can Experience The Feel of A Classroom
Owing to the growing popularity of visual learning, most of the present day classrooms are seen imparting knowledge through online sessions. You can register for a host of online professional courses that are conducted by some well-known educational platforms and you are all covered. Upon registration, you will be able to access all the pre-recorded videos pertaining to your topic which offer you the experience of classroom learning. Tagged as a type of distant learning, you can become a part of the online learning community that is catching up worldwide.
Makes On-the-Job Training A Reality
Most of the times giving verbal instructions to students fall on deaf ears. But when the same instructions are given through visual media, you will be able to understand the step-by-step process to complete a particular task. In the event of a confusing situation, you can bank upon the video, play it again and you are all covered. In this way, visual training is a strong benefactor for on-the-job training that all the modern day corporates are looking for.
Illustrations Pave Way for Better Understanding
Video presentations are promising tools to help you understand better. Illustrations help you recreate the topic in your mind’s eye, allowing you to recapitulate what all was learnt; all in a jiffy. Students find it easier to connect with the images than with the text. Due to the strength of visual learning, topics are not only understood easily and quickly but also favor an effective application of assimilated visual content.
The Fun Element to Learning
You will agree with the fact that traditional classroom learning is monotonous and distractive. Contrast this with visual learning which is imparted through educational videos. Allowing you to connect with the subject of the video, you can make learning fun which is absent when you sit down with books while you listen to the lectures delivered by faculty. Visual learning goes a long way in engaging you with your study topics, ultimately improving your concentration levels.
Experience The Human Touch
Another component which is critical to learning is to interact with a physical entity as a learned faculty. In traditional learning, classrooms are conspicuous with lectures being delivered from a podium by subject teachers.
Flip this scenario with a visual learning classroom and you have a video session conducted by a subject matter expert. This expert who is a knowledgeable person in his chosen niche will make an indelible impression on your mind through his student-friendly interactive lectures. It is then that you can establish the strong human connect with your online tutor; the human touch that promotes successful and engaging learning.
Conclusion
Making the most of the technology, now is the age of innovative educational tools that are making a headway into schools and colleges. Tagged as a blessing for students of different intelligent levels, it is through visual learning that you can encourage students to employ creative learning techniques. This way, visual learning will not only educate students with subject knowledge but will also pave the way for holistic growth which surfaces in the form of improved concentration and creativity.
Nowadays, technology has really revolutionized the way we live so as our education. Keeping this in mind, we Edsys is providing relevant and useful information via blogs regarding the things which are necessary for teachers as well as students.
Here is the list of those 15 popular Edsys blogs in 2017:
Students need regular motivation to achieve their goals. Movies can be a part of it so as that we can motivate them through stories of great personalities. Nowadays there are easy and effective ways to inspire them. Inspirational movies! Here we are showcasing few inspirational movie names, which can be used to motivate students.
Learning math seems to be a tough task for many children. If you are a mathematical wizard or a beginner, making use of fun riddles can boost your numerical abilities and can make you a math lover. Some such fun riddles are shown here.
Want to make every student of class listen to you, then applying effective teaching methods. Effective and interesting teaching methods can make students attentive in your class. Here are some innovative ideas for teachers to reinvent their teaching methods and make their classes more interesting.
Technology has changed the way we learn. Now you can educate your children through a mobile app as there are lots of education apps accessible. These apps are making things easier for children to understand with moving animations which can make learning fun to the core. And also has many more benefits, here we are showing few.
School management is an important part of any educational system. School authorities are trying hard to manage the school efficiently as managing school affairs is not at all an easy task. So as a solution for this, we introduce school management software. Here are its characteristics so that you can understand more about it.
Global positioning system or GPS is a tool used to measure distance and to help identify the location any place in the world. The fact is that it is an amazing tool that can do many things than just tell you where you are. Here we are showcasing few interesting facts about GPS.
Schools not only provide knowledge, but also play an important role in shaping the personality of a person. Along with knowledge, a student also learns lessons of honesty, discipline and cleanliness from school and therefore, it is essential for a school to maintain a hygienic atmosphere. Now we explain the significance of hygiene in schools from our blog.
Teachers can give children opportunities to serve in leadership roles. They can teach the skills required for students to take on leadership roles now and in the future. Here are 10 activities for teachers to grow leadership skills in children.
Critical thinking should be motivated. Normal concepts of learning are losing its charm. The main goal of education is to promote students’ critical thinking, not making them reflect like a parrot. There are many ways from which critical thinking plays an important role in education. Few are which are mentioned and explained in our blog.
Technology has developed over the years in almost every field. With the development of technology, way of education has also moved on from old tools like the abacus, pencil and paper to PCs, laptops and mobiles. E-learning and smart education is also an example of technological development. Many companies are involved in this field; some of them are listed in the blog.
Now, the traditional teaching methods such as textbooks, blackboard, etc have changed to computer-aided presentations. With the hasty rise in technology, there are further developed teaching techniques available. And so, it is perfect time to change the usual teaching method that has been used in classrooms for many decades. Here we are showing you 4 innovative teaching methods to “WOW” your students.
Gone are the days when you can gain knowledge only from classrooms and lecture notes. Thanks to the internet, education is now reachable to a larger group of folks who actively seek it. One such way is going for free educational websites. It can hone the skills of students and update their knowledge bank. In our blog we listed 40 free educational websites that you shouldn’t miss out.
The main function of the grades is to inform the parents, guardians and others how the student is performing in studies. This is to be done with most attention and care and without any prejudice or partiality. It is a very private thing; unfortunately, it is done in a very public way. But sometimes it affects the students in a psychological way which is mentioned in our blog.
Teachers’ should be an ideal role model for their students as students spent more time in school that at home. They should analyze their students and teach according to that which enables children to learn and develop well. Along with these, we have listed certain things in our blog which a teacher should avoid in the classroom.
Disaster Management is a systematic process to secure the lives and property of folks from unexpected natural and man-made crises. All in an attempt to lessen the loss caused by a disaster, the student community teamed with groups of teachers has made its strong presence to help communities to better deal with crises. Here we explained in detail regarding the role of school students in disaster management.
Conventional lecture methods would not be very productive when the students are tired or sleepy, especially in the afternoon sessions. Having some fun classroom activities can make students active after lunch hour.
Some teachers would make it plainly fun games while some others use it as a strategy to revise what is learned in the previous classes. In the morning sessions also, some teachers would take a short gap in between the strenuous learning to bring in some fun.
Are you looking for some interesting fun classroom activities to make your learning session interesting and engaging? Here are a few among the most played cool classroom activities for students of diverse class levels:
1. Educational Bingo
This awesome game can be played in groups. It is a lot of fun while helping to revise what is learnt in the class.
Teacher can ask a question that was taught in the previous class and the answer would be hidden in the bingo puzzle. It is widely used to learn mathematics with fun. The bingo card can contain numbers in columns and they have to solve maths puzzles to find out the answers in the list.
For example, teacher can call out “all numbers that are divisible by 4 in a row”.
2. Bleep
Bleep is an interesting memory game in which students are restricted to use certain words during reading comprehension.
A list of banned words is first provided to the participating students. This can also be word categories such as colors, names, animals, food and more.
Teacher would then give a reading comprehension material containing the relevant words. Each student is asked to read a sentence or paragraph by omitting these words.
They have to bleep once they come over a banned word to succeed in the game.
3. Pink Tac Toe
This is a really funny game that can be played with any number of students by grouping them into teams. Teacher would call out a body part followed by a colour.
A student from a team is assigned the task of finding an object in the classroom with that particular colour. He/she then needs to touch it with the mentioned body part.
If teacher calls out pink toe, he/she has to find out an object with pink colour and touch it with his toe.
This is an energizer game that raises the acting spirit in students.
Teacher will have a list of sports activities with him/her numbered from 1 to 10 or so. He would then randomly call out a student and asks to say a number.
Teacher now call out the sports activity that is linked to the particular number in his/her list.
The student has to enact the activity for at least 10 seconds.
The list can include items such as shooting a jump shot, batting a baseball, serving a tennis ball, juggling a soccer ball and more.
5. Blind Artist
This amazing classroom activity can invoke creativity among students. Students are first paired and are placed in a position such that they don’t face each other.
A student will be given a picture and the other student will be given a plain paper and pencil. The student with the picture has to describe what is in the picture without actually telling what it is.
The other person has to bring in some creativity and imagination to draw a picture according to his description.
6. Crazy Train
This is a funny game which can be played with elementary level students. Students can be grouped into 10 or 12. They are asked to line up and connect among themselves to represent a train.
Teacher says start when the train slowly moves forward. He would then give commands during the journey such as fast, slow, move backward, turn left and more. Kids would listen to these commands and make changes in their move.
7. Four Corners
Teacher would randomly choose a student ‘X’ and ask him/her to stand outside the classroom after his/her eyes are tied up.
Rest of the class would be divided into four and asked to stand at four corners of the class, say A, B, C and D. Then X will call out an alphabet and those students staying at that corner will be out of the game.
The rest of the three groups are again divided into four and asked to stand at four corners. X will again call out an alphabet and that group gets out. This elimination is continued until four students are at four corners and the luckiest student will be the last one standing.
8. Sentence Race
This is a vocabulary review game that can be played among high school students.
The teacher would write up vocabulary words in pieces of paper and folds it and keeps in a box. The class would be divided into two groups and the blackboard would also be partitioned into two, each side for a team.
A member from a team would come up and picks a piece of paper. He needs to write a meaningful sentence that includes the word specified on the paper on blackboard. Teacher would finally evaluate the sentences and the side with most meaningful sentences will win.
9. Chain Spelling
This is an amazing game in which students need to connect two unrelated words by looking at their spelling.
Teacher first writes a word on the board. First student is asked to take the last three or four letters of the word and form another word.
The next student has to repeat the same and this is continued until a student fails to form a word or misspells it. The game can be made tighter by restricting them to certain category of words.
10. Blindfold Conversation
This is a team building activity for a new classroom. First teacher asks everybody to introduce themselves in a few sentences.
Once it is done, class would be divided into two teams. A student from a team is called up and his eyes would be tied. A student from the other team is then called and asked to say something.
The student who is blinded has to recognize him/her from his voice. If he/she failed to do so, he/she may also ask certain questions related to what was discussed in the introduction to identify the person.
11. Jumping the Line
This is an energizer game that would be apt to play at the end of a class which can be used as a revision too.
A line is drawn on the class floor and one side of the line will be marked ‘true’ and the other as ‘false’. The students are asked to stand on the line.
Teacher would pick a student and says a statement based on what is taught in the class. If the student thinks that it is true, he/she has to jump to the true side or else the false side.
If the student’s assessment is wrong, he/she has to go back to his desk.
Teacher would continue the game and the last student standing in the line with the most right assessments will be the winner for the day.
12. Missing Cards
This is a memory game for any level students that improve their attention to detail. The class is first divided into two. Teacher has a set of cards which denotes different categories.
A student from the first team is asked to come up and teacher shows him/her 5 cards for 10 seconds. He/she then shuffles the card and shows only 4 cards next time.
The student has to recall his/her memory and identify the missing card. The team with the most number of correct card recalls win.
13. Mime
This is a very popular game in which action words or verbs are revised in a funny manner.
The class is first divided into teams. Teacher writes action words such as running, gardening, singing etc in pieces of paper. It is then folded and placed in a bag or box.
A student from a team comes and picks a paper and enacts the word. The other team has to guess the word correctly to win a point.
14. Buzz
This is a great game that stimulates concentration and attention to detail in students while still having fun.
The teacher can first choose a list such as a number 1 to 100, a series of words, prime numbers and more according to the knowledge level of the students.
The participants will be first informed about the buzzwords or numbers in the list, say every odd number, prime number, vowels or so. They have to read the items in the list while replacing the particular number or alphabet as ‘buzz’.
These are just a few among the many popular fun classroom activities for students. A board race, scavenger hunts, spin the wheel, and the jigsaw is among other commonly chosen fun classroom activities to let students enjoy the beautiful feeling of learning with fun.
15. Thanking for the Compliment
This is an ice-breaking classroom activity, which can boost the confidence and encourage students to complement each other’s.
The teacher can give a sheet of paper to each student in the class which has to be pinned on their backs then she has to ask every student to think of a compliment to write for their friends. When the whole class is done with it, ask them to read it aloud.
16. “All about me”
This would be a fun-filled interesting classroom activity for kids, which can be performed in the beginning as well as at the end of the academic year.
Here the teacher is supposed to prepare a worksheet with certain set of questions like:
My name is………….
I want to become a …………………. When I grow up.
My hobbies are……………
My favourite colour …………
I want to go to …………………………
My best friend is …………………………….
They would simply live to fill this out. It would be more fun to do this activity twice an year, for them to compare.
17. Collect the Candies
‘Collect the candies’ is a school-activity which would be very effective in classroom.
In this the teacher has to hide candies in different corners of the class. Now, the students have to collect and find the candies. Initially, it would sound like a treasure hunt.
Now ask the students to show the number of candies they have collected and along with this they have describe about their favourite actor, teacher, colour, fruit etc. The number of things to be said will depend on the number of candies they have collected.
18. “Lean Laniya”
These interesting fun classroom activities will let the students to think and learn new words.
The game goes like, every student has to think of an adjective to describe themselves. But with the condition that the adjective must start with the first letter of the respective student’s name. For instance, Funny Francila, Smart Steeve, Tall Tom etc.
Teachers can choose the activity wisely depending on the level of students they are handling. Some of these classroom activities are not only evoke fun but also stimulates their creativity, thought process and teamwork.
Some of these school activities can also be used as part of strategic plans to teach difficult topics. However, it needs a lot of planning and preparation from teachers to execute such Classroom activities successfully rather than making it a distraction from serious learning.
A good classroom environment should always have the right mix of learning and fun.
If you are of the opinion that entrepreneurship is only for the elderly and well-informed, think again! The world is now awake to the talent of kid entrepreneurs who have made money-making a child’s play, literally and practically. Giving wings to their ideas which in no way are childish, these young entrepreneurs have redefined the way businesses are conducted.
Here is the spotlight on all such kidpreneurs who can be tagged under the umbrella of modern-age young business magnates; in the ascending order of their ages.
1. Lizzie Marie Likness Owns the Lizzie Marie Cuisine Website
Lizzie Marie Likness was a cooking empress since she was 6 years of age. She is the founder of Lizzie Marie Cuisine; a popular website featuring interesting recipes, blogs and videos which she developed with her parents’ assistance. Keeping an eye on the health of kids, it is through her website that Lizzie helps kids eat healthy foods. The website also prompts kids to discover how entertaining cooking can be. Homemade baked products from her kitchen landed at the local farmers’ market. She sold all these in addition to conducting cooking classes.
2. Meet Alina Morse, the Lollipop Girl and the Founder of Zollipops
It is a successful story of Alina Morse to be the chosen girl to visit the White House as an official guest; not once but twice. She made her strong presence felt at the American President’s official residence holding her candy, when she was all of 7 years. Fruit-flavored lollipops named Zollipops were her innovative offerings.
You might be wondering what is so special about these lollipops that allowed her to step into the Presidential residence. Her sugar-free lollipops are made out of a perfect blend of maltitol syrup, xylitol and beetroot juice; sweetened with stevia. This way, she was able to churn out lip-smacking lollies which don’t cause cavities in teeth.
From then, there was no looking back for Alina. She set up her own confectionery by investing $7,500 as savings from her grandparents. Since 2014, her candies are available at SuperValu and Whole Foods along with online listings on Amazon. Her product line expanded with the roll-out of Zolli Drops; sugar-free peppermints which can be enjoyed by sugar suckers without damaging their teeth. This way, Alina Morse could be tagged as the Dentist’s Best Friend who is all out to satisfy your sweet craving with sugar-free lollies and peppermints.
3. Leanna Archer – The CEO of Leanna’s Hair Essentials
Leanna Archer was all of 9 years when she entered into the cosmetics business with her grand-mom’s secret hair-care recipe. She unveiled a line of organic hair products tagged under the Leanna’s Hair Essentials brand featuring a plethora of hair conditioners and cleansers. Once she attained the age of 17, she went on to become the CEO of her company and featured in well-known business publications like Success Magazine and Forbes.
Cameron Johnson called the shots and set up his first business when he was all of 9 years. Even before graduating from his high school, he owned a profitable empire of a dozen business ventures. By the time he was 15 years of age, Cameron became the youngest American to become a part of the management of a Tokyo-based company. His success spread far and wide to be featured in a number of magazines, newspapers and television shows across the globe.
Sheer dissatisfaction was what prompted the 11 year old Moziah Bridges to start a business of his own. Unhappy with the bow ties that were displayed at a retail store, Moziah went on to making bow ties all by himself. Lending him a helping hand was his grand-mom who taught him to sew. This was the beginning of his corporate journey when he began selling his original fashion line to clients via Etsy. It did not take long for his success story to reach the corners of South East by which time his bow ties made their presence felt in all the boutiques which allowed him to rake in more than $30,000.
Image Source – blackamazing.com
6. Mikalia Ulmer – The Founder of Me & the Bees Lemonade
All of 11 years, Mikalia Ulmer is the next in the league of kid entrepreneurs who have attracted the attention of the who’s who in the world of business. For Mikalia, it all started with an intention to become a social entrepreneur. Championing for a noble cause to protect honeybees, she referred to her great granny’s cookbook and researched on bees to uncover their importance to our ecosystem.
All in an attempt to prevent bees from facing extinction, Mikalia churned out her “Me & the Bees Lemonade”; a concoction of flaxseeds and mint sweetened with honey collected from local honeycombs. From the money she gets from every bottle of lemonade, Mikalia donates a certain percentage to organizations that are working to preserve bees.
7. Jaden Wheeler & Amaya Selmon – Partners of Kool Kidz Sno Konez
Jaden Wheeler (12 years of age) and Amaya Selmon (10 years of age) gave wings to their creative instincts by churning out snow cones, using a blender. After setting up a makeshift arrangement in their home’s front side in Memphis, they drew the attention of their mother who began to assess their progress in business.
After gaining confidence of their capabilities to establish a small business, the siblings acquired a food truck as a gift from their encouraging mother. This made them the youngest food truck owners that Memphis ever produced. If you are eager to know what the Kool Kidz Sno Konez now offers to clients, you will be surprised to note that these siblings now own a profitable empire. Offering an assembly of snacks like nachos and hot dogs, the creative siblings still serve snow cones in over 20 delicious flavors.
8. Farrhad Acidwalla – The Online Business Magnate
Farrhad Acidwalla demonstrated his entrepreneurial skills when he was just 12 years of age. Teaching himself web programming and designing, Farrhad sold his first website by making headway into the expanding world of digital businesses. At the age of 16, he became the founder of Rockstah Media, with its net worth reaching $4 million in 2016. He is also an inspirational speaker who travels across the globe sharing his stories on how to take appropriate steps towards building a strong business empire.
A breakthrough came in the form of a YouTube video about Richard Branson that Ollie Forsyth watched when he was 13. Notwithstanding the fact that he was a dyslexic child, the video instilled confidence in Ollie Forsyth, turning his weakness into his advantage. He unveiled his first business venture and called it Ollie’s Shop. This debut business venture was an online boutique that offered trendy belts, cufflinks and bracelets and other ornamental accessories to the fashion-centric clientele. While some of them are handcrafted by Ollie himself, others have their origins linked to China.
With an ambition to become a millionaire by the time he becomes 20, Ollie diversified from his ecommerce business to present a subscription-based online magazine, befittingly named The Budding Entrepreneur.
Bella Weems might be the last in the list of kidpreneurs, but is definitely not the least.
By the time Bella Weems was 14 years of age, she started earning by turning her skill of making impressive lockets, bracelets and necklaces into an enterprising business proposition. Encouraged by her parents to buy her own car, it was just a couple of years after Bella honed her jewelry-making skill that she set up a customized jewelry startup to rake in multi-million dollars.
Tagging her leading product as the “Living Locket”, Bella went on to permit the concept of mix-and-match. Allowing her customers to make their own jewelry, Bella furthered her business by the “Orgami Owl” and it offers a host of exquisite chains, lockets and charms with a matching concept. To top it all, these adornments came with precious Swarovski crystals that lit up the eyes and heart of jewelry enthusiasts. Extending her product line, Bella started her company called Origami Owl offering a collection of jeweled accessories, bracelets and earrings to all the lovers of jewelry.
Conclusion
Kids definitely have age on their side. Age is the biggest advantage that works in their favor while they set out to explore all their nascent and invaluable traits. All the above- mentioned success stories of kidpreneurs proves that these kids not only made the most of their entrepreneurial skills but also followed their dreams to establish successful businesses. They simply believed in themselves without an iota of fear pulling them against their ambitions that has made all the difference.
The millennial generation has so much going in favor of them. All thanks to the emerging technologies that are making waves in every sphere of human life, the younger generation can come of age through a host of educational websites. These come as a boon to kids who are brimming with eagerness to learn something new with every passing day. If you as a guardian or teacher are on the lookout for educational tools that are free for kids, you can check out this long list of 20 odd websites that teach and guide them; the fun way.
Featuring a number of fun-filled videos and games, PBSKids presents an array of educational shows for kids. Check out the above link and help your kid try his hand at sing-a-long songs while his mind is racing to solve counting games. Presenting a learning section for kids, this educational website tops the list of free and entertaining tools that teaches your kid the tricks to sort various items into their respective categories.
As a parent of a toddler, you must have invariably bought your kid a toy from Fisher Price. Tagged as a leading brand of children’s products, you as parents can now check out its online version which offers a host of educational activities and games that you can play along with your toddler.
Along with alphabet coloring pages, this free educational site helps your preschooler get accustomed to different sounds of animals, shapes. Another striking feature of this site is that it encourages story time with your kids with popular stories featuring Eddie, Maggie and Sonya Lee.
You as a guardian of your wards can bank on the innovative Starfall.com website which features a collection of Kindergarten Math games along with practice sessions that hone your kids’ linguistic skills. A host of reading activities specially curated for kids going to pre-K are placed alongside others which can even help a 2nd grader. The Parent-Teacher Center offers a helping hand to kids who find it hard to read through academic content web downloads and phonics. Starfall can thus excite your child to learn math and language the fun-filled and engaging way.
Who says learning math is difficult? Check out CoolMath that can help all those kids who are either enamored with numbers or perplexed by the different mathematical operators. Either ways, you have help just around the corner. Allowing kids to play with numbers, this site teaches basic numbers along with the ways to calculate factors and identify prime numbers. Along with lessons about algebra, this site offers games like Chess and Chinese checkers.
Featuring three sections, the first segment CoolMath-Games.com has an array of math games for preschoolers. The next section called CoolMath4Kids.com is tailor-made for kids between the ages of 3 and 12. The last section named CoolMath is for teenagers above 13 years who wish to learn math; the simple and entertaining way.
If you are looking to offer the perfect mix of fun and learning to your kid, then this site is just for you! Meeting the educational needs of kids who are still in their early stages of brain and body development, you can excite your kids through a host of video clippings and games. Handhold your child and lead him to enjoy learning through colorful presentations of the English alphabet. Check out the rhymes section along with the one that teaches your child various animal sounds.
Matching the educational needs of students of different age groups, MakeMeGenius is a free educational site featuring a host of science videos for kids. Introducing your kids to cool facts about any topic under the sun, the fun-element to learning is kept alive through an array of jokes for kids.
You can help your kids test their knowledge about a variety of science topics including the nervous system, photosynthesis and electricity by checking out the section called “Science Test, Quiz and Questions”. Curated for students attending Kindergarten all the way until their 8th grade, this informative site throws light on Math subjects like Pre-Calculus, Algebra and Geometry.
When you talk about educating your kids the fun way, you cannot forget Sprout. Featuring a collection of enjoyable videos and fun games, this free site presents easy crafting options teamed with coloring pages. You as parents can sign up with the “Sprout’s parent community” to be informed about new games and free live events and activities that will be featured next.
Everything your kid wants to learn about the world around him/her is now at your fingertips. Check out the Nat Geo Kids website and you are all covered. Alongside presenting an ocean of knowledge about various countries along with their characteristic flora and fauna, this comprehensive and fun-filled educational site can excite the creative side of your little kids. Helping your kid try his hand with some science experiments, the QUIZ WHIZ section is sure to transform your kid into a wizard of sorts.
Living by the “Engage. Empower. Inspire” tagline, TIME for Kids is indeed worthy of its presence in the entertaining educational segment for kids. Featuring a host of articles that can attract and motivate inquisitive minds, there is no end to what this site can offer.
Introducing the nuances of journalism to kids, this site through its FACT CHECK section can help students to segregate facts from fiction. So if you are parenting a budding journalist, you know which site to bank upon. Coming as a gift from the publishers of the TIME magazine, this comprehensive site is a library of sorts with information about entertainment, health and sports amongst many other educational and general awareness topics.
If you as parents are checking out a one-stop destination for educational games and songs that can become your kid’s favorite pastime, then “Boowa & Kwala” comes as your top bet. Featuring a long list of informative games for babies, toddlers and those that have just stepped into Kindergarten, this is the exclusive site that can teach your kid in English and French as the media of instruction.
Featuring a long list of interesting channels including science, health, home and garden, automotive, technology, money and culture, “How Stuff Works” is the one-stop informative shop. What about the fun element? The entertainment quotient comes in the form of games, videos and quizzes that will provide an enlivening learning experience to your kids.
So true to its name, The KIDZ Page is an encyclopedia of 5000 pages featuring a collection of fun-filled learning activities and games. Captivating the attention of kids through coloring pages, you can introduce your kids to a plethora of word games and jigsaw puzzles that will improve their brain power.
Categorized into several holidays, each holiday presents a different collection of brain-teasers and games that will enhance the concentration of your kids. A host of FUN ROOM ACTIVITIES involving the dressing up of online toys along with plenty of movies, story books and music collections will ensure your kid treads the path of fun-learning.
Tagged as a free and helpful site for parents to order school and story books, you can check out the Scholastic site. Presenting the largest collection of educational books from various publishers, this site is indeed a blessing to students of different grades; starting from pre-K all the way till they step into senior school.
You as parents of a toddler would have watched the Nickelodeon cartoon channel on television. This is a website format that presents a host of exciting activities for kids like coloring books. Your kid will be thrilled to watch the numerous comic episodes alongside try his/her hand at a number of exciting games.
Offering a fresh, new look to an assembly of books, videos and games, Fun Brain presents categories of educational and entertainment content for Kindergarten kids all the way up to 8th grade. Featuring an array of colorful worksheets for kids to engage and learn, you will be doing them a favor by introducing them to this educational and entertaining website.
Along with a collection of most watched videos, you can lay your hands on popular books. So if you are looking to browse for books, videos and games all under one roof, then you know which one to choose. Key in Fun Brain on your internet browser and you are all covered!
Next in the list of educative and entertaining websites for kids is the “BBC History for Kids”. This site, true to its name, allows your kid to experience a sneak peek into ancient history along with the happenings that shaped World History and British History. A host of quizzes and games are waiting to be solved by your genius kid when he/she clicks the tabs with the names of different European countries. Allowing your kids to peep into the ancient histories of various countries, the fact sheets presented by the website document the learnings in printed form.
A collection of not one or two but the best 7 science websites for kids comes with a single name and that is Exploratorium. This can be your single window through which your kids will learnt the nuances of science and art in a fun-filled and novel way. This site which is promoted and developed by San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts unleashes the creative side of your kids when they begin to learn about various gadgets. Taking them on fun-filled and simulated outer-space rides, your kids will also be taught about the art of gardening and the science of animals and cells in detail.
Identified as a completely free learning network for kids, this educational site presents a number of games linked to multiple subjects including geography, biology, history, astronomy and math, to name a few. The fun element is conspicuous with the inclusion of memory and spelling games along with the provision to enjoy free educational music along with a large collection of free informative movies categorized according to different topics.
An interactive online quiz that features as the last section of the educational movies tests your kid that whether he/she understands about their chosen topic. Going back into the past, the Dinosaur website throws light on the life and extinction of these monstrous reptiles that once made our planet their home.
All in an attempt to fuel the inquisitiveness of kids, guardians can check out the Discovery Channel’s site that is specially crafted for young minds. Answering frequently asked questions of youngsters, this site is a pile of information consisting of games, quizzes, activities and brain-teasers. Presenting facts and only facts to kids, this educative and entertaining website will surely become your kids’ favorite tutor and friend at all times.
You must have seen “Highlights for Kids” in black and white as an educational magazine that was making waves in the information sphere for over 6 decades. Now out as an online version, you can introduce your kids to this free, fun-filled and educative site that teaches them to play and read while engaging them with craft activities.
Alongside matching games and animated stories, this site presents interesting art activities for your kids to enjoy and replicate. The list of edutainment features does not end here. This site teaches your kids the concepts of science backed up by science experiments which can be performed from the comfort of their homes.
If your kid is a hard-core fan of Mickey and Friends, then you can excite him/her with the Disney Jr. Educational Games page. Featuring a collection of videos along with games and coloring pages, your kid will find learning so entertaining that he/she will ask more of it. Alongside helping your kid sharpen his/her hand-eye coordination, you can thank this site for the guaranteed improvement that takes place in the brains of the young and the curious.
Uniquely named, this is another free and educational site that takes pride in its fun-filled means to teach young minds. The home page features the “question of the day” along with an assembly of fun-filled learning activities coupled with some cool jigsaw puzzles. Along with these, your kids will be informed about historical facts supported by celestial phenomenon and weather conditions that can be tracked from the comfort of your homes.
Last but not the least, you as teachers and guardians of young minds can check out this free and informative site. Laying emphasis on sharpening the math and language skills of preschool and elementary school kids, you can introduce your kid to a variety of educational games that will improve his/her knowledge about math, science, social studies and language amongst others. Presenting a collection of featured videos about different topics, you can make this site the best friend and tutor of your kid.
Conclusion
Not restricting to young adults, the internet is helping preschoolers in one or the other way. Teaching them numbers, alphabets, colors and many more, all the above websites vouch for the fact that learning can be made interesting through the use of innovative techniques.
Learning should be in an appealing way so it boosts the learning interest of students. It is only possible when fun filled educational games will be brought into the classrooms. To support the above belief, you can refer to a plethora of research articles that are repeating the importance of structured educational games in classroom learning.
Here are some benefits of learning through fun-filled educational games?
Here they come!
Along with a motivation to learn, kids who are exposed to classroom games will be assimilating information from various sources. While you can implement fun-filled learning activities within the four walls of a classroom, you also create ample opportunities for kids to step out and have fun outside the school. Thus, educational games played in classroom pave the way for knowledge acquisition to take place in a stimulating and interactive environment.
The underlying heads speak volumes of the significance of educational games in making learning a pleasurable experience for kids; with every passing day.
Childhood – The Age of Constant Learning and Accelerated Development
You will agree that young children are constantly learning, while embarking on the path of rapid physical, intellectual and emotional development. Unmindful of the fact that they are multi-tasking, kids learn, experiment and play; all at the same time. Childhood is a golden period of human life when kids are on the verge of cultivating a self-identity which strikingly is very different from their peers.
Every child is unique and thus has special demands that are so diverse. It is for this reason that kids are constantly on the lookout for novel means of assimilating knowledge from multiple sources. Given the inadequacies posed by traditional methods of learning, a host of novel learning mechanisms are all set to excite kids. With so much happening in childhood, it pays to attach importance to their specific needs. This can be made possible by including exciting classroom activities and games that will excite them to concentrate on the task at hand.
The Numerous Fun-Filled Learning Patterns
If you keenly observe a kid, you will understand the various ways in which he/she learns. Your kid learns through all his senses by touching, seeing, smelling, hearing and tasting. Through observation, kids emulate elders and learn the language and behavior. Finally, kids learn through playing. Though last in the list, playing is the best means for kids to learn. Playing educational games in classrooms helps kids develop a strong sense of self-worth. There are many structured and unstructured classroom games that help kids unveil their potent physical and mental abilities while helping them to concentrate on their subjects as well.
The Numerous Playful Opportunities that Excite and Teach Kids
Guardians and teachers can check out these innovative educational games that can teach and stimulate the imagination of kids.
~ When you introduce your kids to playing with sand and water, you are teaching them the concepts of Math and Science. Kids will identify the striking differences between sand which is a solid and water which is a fluid.
~ There are umpteen creative means to unveil the hidden talents and expressions of kids. Allow them to sit with a paper and colored pencils. They will begin to weave their thoughts into pictures and when you ask them to narrate the story behind the picture, they will surprise you with their imaginative and expressive tales.
~ Girls who are allowed to play with toys will unleash their creative side by dressing up their favorite dolls in different attires and accessories.
~ You can gift your kid educational games like jigsaw puzzles, Lego blocks and shape sorters. When he/she sits with them, he/she will be applying his/her mental capabilities along with developing a sense of logic, with pictures. He will also start recognizing colors, shapes and sizes; the fun way.
~ Not restricting your kid to indoor games, you can also encourage them to engage themselves in outdoor sports like playing ball games and cycling. Such activities and games help in developing the mental and physical faculties of kids in addition to developing their agility and gross motor skills.
~ When a kindergarten classroom includes educational games as a part of its teaching strategy, kids will be taught to accept both victory and defeat. They will learn the art of taking turns in addition to sharing and interacting with peers.
~ You as a parent can encourage your kids to sing and play simple music instruments that can be in the form of educational toys. When they start toying with these instruments, kids will learn the concepts of musical rhythm by listening to different tones.
Kids Will Engage Themselves in Activities They Love
When you team up educational games to learning, you as adults are actually setting the stage for your kids to do things that they love the most and learn a well. Playing educational games will introduce kids to experiment with their toys and come up with unusual way of doing things. If you notice that your kid has a keen interest in books, you can introduce him to new books.
When you sit with them and partake in their reading activities, your kids will find it exciting to not only spend quality time with you but will also encourage them to express themselves in their own sweet and child-like manner. When you as adults probe into the pictures in the books, your kids will start narrating stories that can inspire a writer of sorts to experiment with their thoughts and words. Thus, allowing your kids to do what they like is the best way for them to learn. .
Educational Games Pave the Way for Holistic Learning
Learning is all about equipping kids with ways and means for them to develop and hone their social, emotional and physical skills. Educational games help in this endeavor, encouraging kids to experience life from a completely different viewpoint. They will be prompted to conduct many tryouts with all that is happening around them. When kids team up with peers in playing educational games, they will learn to interact better by sharpening their social skills.
Team Building Mechanisms
If you as guardians and teachers wish to introduce a fun element to learning, and can allow kids to learn collectively as a team. Tagged as a cooperative learning strategy that can be employed in classrooms, playing educational games as a team helps students to not only assimilate information easily but also helps them to recapitulate what they learnt quickly. Playing as a team can be fun when kids begin to develop leadership qualities teamed with sharpening their communication skills.
A Field Trip – A Fun-Filled Quest That Helps Kids Appreciate And Learn From Nature
Connecting kids with the outside world can be encouraging and appealing to kids. And this can be achieved by engaging them with fun-filled field trips that will improve their curiosity level. An encounter with nature or a visit to a science exhibition or museum can make learning appealing to kids. Not only will they be excited to look around the exhibits and make notes, they can also learn with an excitement that comes when they begin to see the various forms of their subjects as life-like objects.
Educational Games Offer Creative Brain Breaks
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. In line with this commonly used adage, if parents and teachers incorporate educational games into the learning curriculum, they can make the most of the enjoyable breaks that these games offer. It can be as simple as enacting a skit that is part of their English chapter. This can provide dual benefits to students. While they learn about the characters in the drama through enacting, students will also enjoy a brain break that shuns away the monotony of constantly listening to lectures delivered by English teachers.
Use of Technology-Based Educational Strategies
Technology opens up a number of avenues for kids to learn; the fun way. A host of classroom apps are now in vogue which can be used to increase student engagement and learning. Teachers can bank on teaching equipment like tabletop computers and overhead projectors to help kids develop interest about various subjects. Rekindling the interest in studies sets the stage for holistic learning when kids will use technology as a creative means to enhance their innate and acquired skills.
Now is the age of wearables in learning. Gadgets like headsets showcasing the abilities of Augmented Reality(AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) along with smart watches can become creative instruments for learning the novel way. These are all a part of the e-learning revolution that have taken the sphere of education by storm, altering and improving the way kids look at learning and living.
The Concept of Fun Learning Centers
Schools which go the extra mile in setting up fun learning centers will provide the much-needed social interaction to students of different ages. Along with providing them with umpteen opportunities to hone their innate and acquired skills, a fun learning center calls for grouping of students into small gatherings.
Conspicuous of the directions given by teachers, a fun learning center can become an attractive activity-area outside a classroom. Such activities are very important for kids who will begin to adhere to the rules of the activity along with developing their self-esteem. These two traits go a long way in shaping the kid into a responsible individual who is aware of both his strengths and weaknesses.
By now, you must have understood the relevance of fun educational games in learning. The above tips and measures can be easily incorporated in schools which are driven by a goal to make education relevant and interesting to kids. Alongside promising all the benefits of cooperative learning, these fun-filled educational games and activities grab the attention of students to help them concentrate better on their academic curriculum. Along with a progress in academics, these exciting classroom and outdoor activities finally make learning fun and engaging for kids of different ages and IQ levels.
Student engagement and understanding of materials is given more emphasis in today’s education over spoon feeding the facts.
Therefore, using black-boards or the typical lecture methods are not adequate to teach science and other related subjects.
Many scholars and researchers have proposed advanced ideas and they claim that virtual teaching scenarios or simulations can help to build a better understanding of subjects amongst students.
More than just conveying facts or findings in science, students will love to explore the world of science. These innovative teaching methods in science can substitute the typical teaching techniques to achieve the goal.
1. Hands on Learning:
This is the best teaching method invented so far that involves the active participation of students to experience scientific concepts than to just have an audience view.
Schools are promoting the use of low cost apparatus in classrooms to helps students to have hands on learning experience. It can be a string telephone to teach about sound and communication, matchstick mecanno to teach 3D structures, notched pencil to teach rotation motion or anything similar.
2. Story Telling
Students love to hear stories and therefore, storytelling is one of the best ways to get their attention in class.
Teacher can explain the facts of biology or the laws of physics in the form of stories. This is a mental organizer as human brains can remember stories than just plain facts. Some teachers present the whole concept as a story while some others use a story to open and end the session.
3. Role Play
This innovative method is becoming an integral part of science education as students can intellectually and physically involve through activities while learning a new concept.
Activities can be organized in classroom sessions where a group of students can take the role of atoms or molecules to study a chemical reaction or they can represent a scientist group to demonstrate the particular scientist’s laws.
4. Sports Based Learning
This is an interesting approach to learn problem-solving in physics or a stepwise method to study complex chemical reactions.
A game of football or cricket helps them to learn about the percentage, average or probability which can find its use in physics problems. Sports are mostly played in teams which also promote the importance of teamwork that helps them to synchronize better in group projects.
5. Visual clues
Using visual clues easily supplements auditory information and students can easily connect better with ideas.
The multi-sensory experiences improve their understanding and memorization. This includes drawings, diagrams, and pictures to assist theory and setting up examples to show its application side.
The sequence of lab procedures can be better taught using pictures with words approach.
6. Instructional Conversations
Building instructional conversations is a key method to teach science vocabulary. Let them talk in between the lectures about the experience they had with an application related to the topic of discussion.
This promotes their dialogue construction in science as they communicate using scientific and technical terms. Make this a classroom strategy to help students to easily learn science vocabulary.
7. Science Text Cards
This is an innovative teaching method to convey the science facts in an easy and organized way. In this activity, statements related to science concepts are written on index cards.
Students can work individually, pairs or in groups to sort the cards based on the given format. The formats include true/false,agree/disagree, matching pairs, classification, sequencing and more.
8. Word Games
This is a creative strategy to help elementary students to experience the language of science. Hangman, Pictionary, Dingbats, Bingo, Scrabble, Odd One Out, Charades, Trivial Pursuit etc. are the common games.
Playing these games using scientific terms helps the students to work closely with different hard to understand words and use them fluently in their subject.
9. Graphic Organizers
This teaching approach is helpful for students to interact with science in a more organized and structured way. Teachers can use different types of templates to represent the data according to the topic that is being handled.
A typical format for graphic organizer contains a central point from which different branches are formed and there may be sub-branches in certain cases. Arrows are used to point the direction or sequence of a process.
10. Word Parts
This teaching strategy is followed by teachers to educate the basics of science to elementary students. While introducing new scientific terms, they can reinforce the structure of words.
Students are asked to identify and understand prefix, suffix, and base word, and to relate their meanings. For example, metamorphosis — meta (large), morph (change), osis (process); photosynthesis — photo (light), synth (make), isis (process).
11. Social media
The different social media platforms can be used wisely to teach science to make the science classrooms more interesting and engaging. For instance, students can be asked to follow scientists in Twitter and share his/her new thoughts and findings in class or to use Feedly for improving the content of their research projects.
Students can also use Vine to document and to share science videos, Pinterest account for sharing images for research projects or writing prompts or WordPress class account for peer-to-peer learning.
12. Virtual science labs
There are many virtual science labs available online for free and therefore, this approach almost gives hands on experience of learning the subject without much expense.
Detailed diagrams, illustrations or close up pictures allow students to virtually get inside a plant or animal part without actually doing it. Dissections in biology can be studied thoughtfully with a virtual hands-on sensation without the problem of odour and similarly, experiment a chemical reaction without burns.
13. Word walls
Science word walls in classrooms can stimulate the interest of students in the subject and an opportunity for them to illustrate different concepts. In an advanced technique, a more in-depth understanding of different scientific terms can be made possible with pictures that accompany the words.
This is also an option to help them better understand words with multiple meanings. Teachers can design creative word walls or ask students to contribute to the idea weekly or monthly.
14. Thinking Maps
This is an ideal way to visually represent different thought processes which help to organize the science education with a better flow. There are different types of thinking maps available which can be chosen wisely to represent the particular topic.
This includes bridge maps to teach relation between ideas, brace maps to break larger objects into smaller parts, flow maps to show sequence of events, multi-flow maps to show effects or causes of an event, tree maps to classify objects or ideas and more.
15. Mini anchor charts
These interesting charts are a great idea to give a detailed overview or explanation of a science topic. Teachers use it to interactively teach areas such as scientific methods, types of energy, plant life cycle, states of matter, mixtures and solutions, force & motion and more.
To make the whole idea interesting, the teacher brings variations such as black and white charts, colored ones; fill in the blank models, and full-page anchor charts for large classrooms.
16. Crossover Learning
In this teaching method, students are given opportunity to learn in multiple settings such as inside the classroom, museums, field trips or clubs.
Teachers can use this method effectively by proposing a question in class, taking students to informal settings to find answers and then, going back to classrooms to discuss and share the findings. This way, learners can record, link, recall and share their diverse learning events to explore the topic and get a deeper level understanding.
17. Argue with Science
Learning through argumentation gives students a widened thinking to contrasting ideas which in turn deepen their understanding.
They can refine ideas with others and engage with open-ended questions, and re-state observations or remarks in a more scientific language. Teachers can also guide them in their approach and share the intellectual expertise with them.
18. Context-Based Learning
In this method, students are given the opportunity to create context and explore ideas from them. They interact with surroundings, hold conversations with subject experts, make relevant notes and attempt to modify the nearby objects.
The context can be understood in detail by exploring the world around. This gradually helps them to interpret new information from the context and relate to what they already know.
19. Computational thinking
This is an advanced technique to improve thinking and problem-solving skills. The method comprises decomposition i.e. breaking large problems into small units and pattern recognition-related problems to the ones which were already solved successfully in the past.
Computational thinking skills also cover algorithms-step by step approach to reach a solution; abstraction-neglecting unimportant details and debugging-refining these steps.
20. Remote labs
Learning by doing is an unparalleled approach to teach science and this is made a reality with remote labs. Students are given access to authentic scientific tools and opportunities to control remote lab experiments.
This would enhance their inquiry skills and conceptual understanding and also, the students can learn and explore with motivation.
21. Embodied Learning
In this approach, mind and body of the students work together to explore science. The physical feedback, as well as the resultant actions, will reinforce their learning process.
This idea is well supported by today’s technology such as visual systems that track movement or wearable sensors to collect physical and biological data.
22. Science museums
Give opportunity to students to visit a science museum as part of the learning process. This gives them access to innovative resources and they can visualize data they learned in class.
They can have a look at the real work of scientists which improves their urge to learn about it further. Regular visits to museums make learning science more engaging and interesting.
23. Projects
This can be an individual activity or group activity which helps students to showcase the application side of what they learnt through theory.
This method involves choosing the idea, building a plan, executing the plan and finally evaluating it. When students pass through these stages, they can improve their skills to express ideas, problem solving, overcoming the challenges, team work and self assessment.
24. Multimedia Approach
This method is a blend of text, audio, animation, video, still images or interactivity content forms to teach diverse difficult to understand concepts in science.
The educator can convey vast information using advanced media, devices and techniques, and involve a wide range of activities to provide a meaningful learning experience.
25. ICT Enabled Learning
ICT refers to the use of Information and Communications Technology to teach the scientific ideas that promotes open source learning.
In order to make the accessing, storing, transmitting, and manipulation of information more easy, this approach integrates telecommunications, computers and relevant enterprise software, storage, middleware, and audio-visual systems required to handle the topic.
26. Video clips
This teaching technique makes use of instructional video clips available online or in libraries to show and teach a new concept.
The evolution of a process can be conveyed better with animation videos. It can also be videos of demonstration of an idea or an application side of a theory or an interview with a scientist, tutorial by a subject expert and more.
27. Power Points
Instead of the conventional talk and chalk methods, teachers now include power point presentations in their classroom sessions to make it more interesting.
They connect the computers to projectors to address a larger classroom and include interesting slides with diagrams and flow charts to make the teaching more interactive.
28. Mini-labs
Mini-labs allow students to take part in hands-on activities inside the classrooms to illustrate a concept. This makes classroom sessions more fun, engaging and memorable.
Students can attempt to mock-up day/night with a globe and flashlight, build circuits, test for conductivity and magnetism, produce mixtures and solutions or model the formation of sedimentary rock and more.
29. Science Fair
Schools should conduct science fairs as part of their teaching strategy to promote students interest in the subject as well as to evaluate their level of understanding.
In this competition, students are given a time frame to answer a question or perform a task through a range of experiments and research. They showcase the output in the form of reports, display board, or as models.
30. Research books
The teacher can promote the use of research books in classrooms rather than just text books and lecture notes. Students are asked to do a research on whatever topic is covered in class by means of libraries, websites or by talking with experts.
This can include the extended information of their syllabus and their findings with diagrams and charts to emphasize it. They can share their research books with classmates too.
31. Documented Problem Solving
In this method, the teacher insists students record their thought process when solving a problem. They are asked to explain their reasoning for reaching the particular solution rather than simply presenting a solution.
This kind of documented problem solving helps them to have a deeper understanding of their process and gives an option for self-analysis.
32. Science kit
This is one of the innovative methods of teaching scienceto kids and adults alike. Let it be physical science, life science, or earth science, teachers are now making use of science kits to help students have an engaging educational experience.
They can conduct small experiments with guided instructions to identify rock specimens, to watch out for insect metamorphosis or demonstrate chemistry reactions.
33. Science stations
This is a fun, quick and engaging way to teach science that promotes student-led learning. Science stations support differentiated learning that lets students immerse themselves in topics, experience science to the fullest and then reflect back on their learning.
There will be multiple stations built with different learning styles and students can research, explore, watch, read, write, assess and illustrate the science concepts.
34. Observation stations
More than just the textbook assignments that have limitations in exploring the topic, these advanced observation stations help students to build up their research, observation, and creativity.
This includes activities that help them to have an understanding of a specific concept using 5 to 6 stations with varied options. The activities include determining mass using a triple beam balance or testing objects to find out their electrical conductivity and magnetism and a lot more.
35. Peer-to-Peer Teaching
Students take the role of teaching each other that promotes excitement learning science. In Peer-to-Peer Teachingapproach, they are really engaged in the content by discussing scientific topics, generating questions and working in teams to explore new information.
Some of the activities involved in this approach include buzz groups, solution groups, and critic groups.
36. Science movies
Teachers take initiatives to take them for science movies in theatres or in school halls that clearly showcase the application side of scientific concepts.
More than just entertaining them, many science movies captivate their attention and illustrate diverse science concepts in the real world. Science and nature-focused documentaries is one of the best ways to introduce science to kids than spoon feeding them with text book content.
37. Science games for kids
Kids always love to play and that is why smart teachers introduce science to them with interesting games. They can learn more about science and technology with fun.
A wide range of games are available online that showcase the concepts of animals, plants, space, forces, light, sounds, magnets, electricity, weather and gases. There are games with multiple levels and passing each level teaches a new concept and illustrates scientific experiments.
38. Science songs
This is another creative teaching method to help kids to learn about the science world with fun. Teachers can make use of the interesting science songs available online or create one to introduce the basics of astronomy, biology, botany, physical science and earth science with fun.
Science Is Real, Meet the Elements, The Star Song and Motion Song are a few among the popular science songs available online.
39. Science Exhibition
Encourage your students to take part in science exhibitions as part of school level or inter-school level competitions. This is a great opportunity to bring out their creativity in science and design an application based on a scientific concept.
Develop this inquisitiveness and creative mindset in students right from the elementary classes to help them to grow up as science enthusiasts.
40. Mobile apps for Science
A number of mobile apps are available online for elementary, middle school and high school students as well as for those undergoing advanced studies. Today’s kids are tech savvies and they love to learn science using their gadgets.
The advanced mobile apps built with innovative features in fact turn students into scientists. This lets them hold science in their hands and explore it with just a few taps. The popular apps in the category include Human Body, Cozmic Zoom, Earth Primer, Video Science, Science360, NASA GLOBE Observer and a lot more.
41. Field trips
In the middle of boring classroom sessions, take your students out for field trips to experience science while learning. Go to an aquarium, a nature center, a scientist’s home or visit a pet store.
You can also spend some time with the students in the bird park or simply go on a nature walk to experience the science around while learning new concepts.
42. Science clubs
Set up science clubs in your schools or community, which is an ideal approach to STEM education that assimilates high quality hands-on instruction.
This is the right place for science enthusiasts to share and discuss new happenings in the science world and to connect innovative ideas to what they actually learned.
43. Reward discovery
Right from the elementary classes, teachers should support, guide and inspire students to discover the wonders of science.
With an inquisitive mindset, there are a lot to discover from the science world we are living in. Also, reward them for the small discoveries they make and let them share and present it in class.
44. Interactive science journals
This is an advanced version of lecture notes in which students express the information they learnt into different templates and elicit their own responses.
Students can use this technique effectively to have a deeper connection to their learning and this activity promotes their higher level thinking. They can be creative with their notebooks using pictures, charts and comments, thus, building an encompassing resource for future reference.
45. Science at home
Like scientists say, science starts from home. Encourage your students to discover science at home from elementary classes itself. Ask them to find out a specific science concept application at home as assignments and let them discover science on the go.
There are fun science activities at home that involve parents and kids such as measuring Earth’s circumference with a shadow, creating under water fireworks with chemistry, building a balloon powered toy car and a lot more.
46. Flipped Classroom
In this innovative teaching technique, students are asked to go through video instructions or tutorials in the initial stage, i.e. digital learning.
The second stage will be in classrooms where they involve in challenging tasks and assignments based on the information gathered through video assets. This flipped learning frees up class time for activities such as hands-on labs, guided practice or online simulations.
47. Guided Discovery Problems
Understanding science is more than just knowing some facts and the guided discovery problems method makes it possible. This technique can be integrated into the lecture, lab and field courses.
It refers to understanding science step-by-step through the discovery process and involves the collection and processing of data, debugging and explaining it through intriguing puzzles, structured hands-on activities and right presentation of information.
The conceptually difficult or counter-intuitive topics are better handled with this approach.
48. Fishbone
This is a visual tool for organizing critical thinking which is a good approach for problem solving in science. The fishbone diagram helps to teach students about the root causes leading to a problem and quantifying the relationship between the effect and cause. This is more effective when teaching a group. In this diagram approach, the head of the fish represents the change, the ribs show the reason and riblets have the supportive evidence.
49. Science Quiz
Include a quiz as a part of your classroom sessions when teaching science. This can be done as a whole class activity by splitting the group into 4 or more sets. The questions can include the application of the theory taught in class. Students can discuss and share ideas to find the solution within the stipulated time frame. This teaching approach helps students to think from different angles and sometimes, to think out of the box.
50. Build your model
This can be a challenging task given to students as part of science education. Models are the building blocks of science which are used to explain the diverse aspects of real world.
Ask your students to build their own model using the scientific knowledge they have acquired and you can provide supportive guidance.
Students will be creative in making models and designing their own imaginative means of testing them. This is the right approach to find the scientist in them.
The new era teachers and science enthusiasts have come up with many innovative teaching methods in science and the listed ones are just a few among them.
We live in a scientific world and the advanced teaching strategies are helping students to discover and explore science every day.
Other than the listed methods, teachers looking for advanced techniques can also try group discussion, case studies, laboratory experiments, seminar, outdoor teaching, creative illustrations, crafts, dramatization, and interactive lecture demonstrations to help students to experience the beauty of science.
A popular educational culture attracting students and teachers alike is edutainment. Educational material presented in the form of educational toys, online games, mobile applications and e-books come in as interesting tools paving way for a modern pattern of learning. Making use of digital content as the attractive learning tool, here are a dozen ways in which education and entertainment in combination amaze students.
Engages Kids While Learning
The most common complaint parents and teachers have about their wards is the lack of concentration during class or study hours. Keeping the attention of kids is indeed a challenge for guardians. As a perfect solution to this common issue, edutainment content will help students to assimilate loads of information along with keeping them attentive in class. So if you are dealing with a restless kid, a perfect solution is to get him hooked to learning the fun way through images that will catch his attention.
Digital Curriculum – An Interesting Way to Complete Home Assignments
Another amazing way in which edutainment content encourages learning is when you watch interesting videos or an episode of edutainment curriculum every week. Such videos which illustrate the bookish knowledge help you complete your homework which most of the times seems like a herculean task.
While you are engrossed in watching educative and interactive films, you will be prompted to finish your assignments with the information that is shared through such films. A change in perception takes place when you begin to consider homework as an exciting way to learn. Homework will no longer be a dull exercise but an exciting means to complete additional readings by simply watching video presentations.
Paves Way for Story Telling
Notwithstanding the fact that students spend a great deal of time online watching entertaining videos and online shows, edutainment content does them a favor. Students who acclimatize themselves with the format of online learning through informative films that sharpens their creativity. Each frame of a video narrates a different story and it is through such videos that kids can stand in good stead with their imaginative and story telling skills over their peers.
Intellectual Stimulation – An “Out of the Box” Pattern of Learning
A picture is worth a thousand words! In line with this famous maxim, if you as a student are introduced to the culture of edutainment, you will gain insights about the topic of study through mind-stimulating activities. Experiencing a rush of thoughts and imaginative ideas while you are concentrating on the informative videos that are being played, it is through these videos that you begin to think “out of the box”. Edutainment, in more ways than one helps you fuel your natural curiosity, thus allowing you to look at multiple options to perceive a situation.
Promotes Innovative Problem-Solving Abilities
Through edutainment content, students will be prompted to put their creative skills to the ultimate test. Imagine you as a student who are constantly allowed to learn through educative e-books or videos. You will develop a strong inkling towards learning through images which allows you to look at scenarios from different angles. You will stretch your imaginative skills to such an extent that you will come up with innovative ways to solve a particular problem. In this way, you will register progress with your learning curve that comes in the form of creative problem-solving abilities.
On-the-Go Learning
All thanks to the use of online videos, students who follow the edutainment pattern of learning can make the most of learning on the go. You can watch these videos anywhere, at your own pace and at any time convenient to you.
Imagine taking your kid to the supermarket. While you are busy shopping for groceries, your kid will be immersed in the sea of knowledge that is presented in the form of online videos and educational shows. This way, you will be happy that your kid is assimilating knowledge about a topic of his interest and putting his free time to the best possible use.
Flipped Classroom – Another Interesting Benefit of Edutainment
If you are treading the path of edutainment, then you can make the most of the “flipped classroom” concept. As part of this innovative instructional strategy, you will be assigned short educational videos that should be watched while you are at home. This is your homework which allows you to lay hands on all the information that is necessary to master a topic. While in class, you can engage in long-drawn discussions about the topic with the guidance from your tutor.
Coordination Between Sense Organs
As practitioners of edutainment, you will be learning via online educational content; through your eyes and ears. Employing your innate visual and auditory senses, you can influence your learning curve better when you begin to register a synchronization between your audio-visual (AV) abilities. Tag this with the involvement of the mind power and you will pave the way for an alert mind that makes the most of your AV senses.
Experience The Benefits of Hands-On Learning
All thanks to edutainment, you will be able to experience the benefits of hands-on learning. In contrast to learning from books and listening to lecturers within the four walls of a classroom, edutainment calls for your active participation. You will assimilate knowledge by visualizing real-world issues and problems. Hence, the hands-on training experience that is offered by edutainment lays a strong foundation of fundamentals about the topic of discussion; helping you to instantly recollect what you have learnt.
The Fun Element to Learning Demands a Special Mention
It is common knowledge that children develop skills only when they begin to love what they do. Gone are the days when learning was confined to printed books and boring classroom lectures. Now is the age of edutainment which brings in a fun element to learning. As a practitioner of edutainment, you are lucky to enjoy every moment of gaining wisdom. Allowing you to access education through various modes including television, radio and films, the fun element in edutainment supports the idea of interactive learning and makes education a happy and fulfilling purpose.
Sharpen a Host of Positive Attributes With These Edutainment Tools
Chaos is a part of our everyday life. And when you are introduced to this disorderliness that comes in the form of jigsaw puzzles, you will be putting your patience and perseverance to the ultimate test. Such puzzles will help you unveil the meaningful picture only after going through a series of trial-and-error methods.
Legos are construction toys that will sharpen your creativity while helping you develop motor skills, a keen sense of reason coupled with problem-solving abilities. A game of chess is a good way to foster mental agility while you are introduced to different alternatives that will either help you score more or lose.
Promises The Best of Both the Worlds
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy! So true to this adage, if learning and playing are laid side by side, no student will look at education as a boring and tedious mode of assimilating knowledge. Undoubtedly, education and entertainment are two different paths, but they are not the ones that do not intersect. They are not parallel roads but can overlap. And when they do overlap, the result is there for everyone to watch and enjoy. You can enjoy the best of both the worlds through edutainment which promises profound learning through rich and fun-filled experiences.
Wrapping It Up
In view of all the amazing ways in which edutainment favors the knowledge-seeking fraternity, the onus is on the educational bigwigs to promote the use of online content, educational games and mobile applications as novel modes of creative learning. In this manner, you as a decision maker in the field of education can make a huge difference in the lives of students. You will be the benefactor of bringing in a fun element to learning which helps them master their subjects through creative means.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy! This commonly used maxim is so true when it concerns education which demands the constant attention and dedication of knowledge-seekers. However, there will come a time when you find education slowly transforming into a dull form. This brings into focus the need for a fun element to learn when you wish to motivate yourself to learn something new or to hone a skill that you possess as a gift.
If you are looking to make the process of self-development through education even more exciting, here are the numerous ways in which entertainment and short breaks from study routines can become blessings to students.
Fun-Filled Activities Motivate Students to Learn Better
If you wish to welcome every morning as an exciting day to learn new things, you should be motivated to get up and step into your classroom with a curiosity about what lies ahead of you. This curiosity can be enhanced only through fun activities that helped you relax your brain. A teacher who finds a distracted student should take this data point and change the material or mode of teaching. Aiming to enliven a classroom session, he/she can adopt a change in style or approach and conduct sessions beyond the four walls of a classroom.
Helps Develop Healthy Competition Amongst Students
When entertainment and education go hand in hand, students benefit a great deal. Engaging students in fun activities during study time not only introduces them to social interactions amongst peers but also paves the way for the development of healthy competition. Grouping classes into teams that will be instructed to play certain games will help kids to bring in competition to learning. When they begin to concentrate on playing the game better, they are also learning to accept defeat as well as appreciate victory in a healthy manner. Acclimatizing students to a friendly classroom and outdoor atmosphere fosters inter-personal ties while engaging them with games and classroom sessions.
Keeps the Excitement Alive
Imagine an English lecturer conducting a class on grammar and vocabulary. While some students may find the lecture interesting, there can be others who are disinterested with the conventional pattern of teaching and learning. As an aid to such students, a teacher can infuse a sense of excitement to her grammar class by asking his/her students to role-play an English drama with dialogues assigned to every student. The classroom turns into a stage allowing all the actors to hone their linguistic skills; the fun way! This entertaining skit can unleash the hidden talents of students alongside paving the way for a fun-filled method to master the nuances of the English language.
Small Rewards Go A Long Way In Encouraging Students
Who does not crave for recognition and attention? Students also look for words of appreciation coming from their peers and teachers. These words of praise work as an encouragement to students, validating their strengths and abilities. If you are a teacher looking to encourage your class, you can announce small rewards for academic excellence.
Set your students a target; say an 80% class aggregate in a test which will get them to enjoy a movie with their classmates. You can also treat them with pizzas alongside pasting a funny sticker on the answer script of a student who performed well in his exam paper. These small yet creative moves will spin the entire class into the laughter mode with giggles and the event can be cherished by the entire class, eventually making learning a fun-filled activity.
Guest Lectures – A Creative Means to Break the Monotony of a Class
Notwithstanding the fact that a lecture is an educative session that calls for the attention and interaction of students, teachers can bring in the fun element to teach through outsiders. You can substitute your presence with a guest lecturer who is not only a subject matter expert in his/her chosen field but also an engaging orator. The guest lecturer who will narrate his/her personal experiences will bring in freshness to your class through an evident change in the style of coaching. This way, you as a teacher can break the monotony of your classroom sessions, encouraging your class to experience varied things.
Use of Visual Media in Teaching – A Sure-Shot Strategy to Fun-Filled Learning
There can never be a dull moment in school provided teachers employ fun-filled learning strategies. One such move would be to play a YouTube video to the entire class which revolves around the subject that is being discussed as part of the curriculum. The introduction of audio-visual aids to learning not only makes teaching effective but also encourages students to concentrate better, thereby prompting them to come up with different ideas and opinions during classroom discussions about the video presentation. The use of interactive technologies can capture the attention of your entire class that will thank you for your innovative attempts to transform learning into an interesting regime.
The Internet And Mobile Technologies Are The Entertaining Carriers of Education
Students of today need not exclusively rely on their teachers in their pursuit of gaining knowledge. All thanks to technology, now is the age of the internet and mobile technologies which add the much-needed fun element to learning. You can now browse about any topic under the sun at your convenience and be at the receiving end of an ocean of knowledge presented in the form of informative articles on the net. Your pocket-sized smartphone can become your tutor. This way, the use of technology in learning and teaching can help students get the best of both the worlds; the entertaining world that teaches them a whole lot of things in a jiffy.
Fun-Learning Boosts the Release of “Feel-Good” Hormones
You will agree with the fact that education is all about dedication and repetition. At some point in time, learning can get monotonous and dull if it is not blended with entertainment. A joke cracked in class will serve as a catalyst for students to engage themselves with the topic that is being discussed. Reducing the tension of learning by consuming all your mental abilities, it is through entertaining events in classes that students can be at ease with themselves. When they are comfortable and peaceful in the class, they will enjoy the benefits of positive hormones that will be released into their bodies along with a rush of oxygen.
Be it endorphins or dopamine, both these have a positive influence on the minds of students. All set to improve their mind power, students will begin to look forward to the fun-filled activities that make their classroom sessions interesting and creative.
Education Can Be Made More Effective
The brain of a student is constantly juggling with multiple concepts and ideas. Just as you put your body to sleep for all the muscles to relax, your brain too needs periods of relaxation for it to function effectively. It is only when you relax your brain that you will be able to concentrate better with the task at hand. In this context, students who are exposed to entertaining and brain-relaxing activities during their school hours can make the most of what is taught in class. You as a student after a relaxing session will lose track of the learning time and will put your heart and soul into what is being taught and give it your best.
Memory Retention – Another Promising Benefit of Fun-Learning
Teachers and guardians can bank on a host of educational toys and games that are crafted for their wards. Allowing them to discover, share and create incredible educational content, these fun-filled tools weave magic in the lives of students in more ways than one.
Students usually multi-task even when they are simply sitting in the class and listening to a lecture. While they are listening, they are also engaged in taking notes, simultaneously heeding the instructions given out by their faculty. It calls for a great deal of mind power to perform all these activities.
Fun-filled activities during school hours bring in a sense of novelty which is not enjoyed by students but also helps in improving their memory power. After a fun-filled activity, the minds of students are activated to such an extent that they will be able to enhance their capabilities to recapitulate what was taught after the entertaining activity.
Conclusion
It is all about making education even more interesting for students to not only remember the course contents but also to relate every fun-filled event to a topic that was discussed in class. With that in mind, teachers and schools which give importance in providing fun-filled study-breaks will stand tall, attracting the attention of both parents and students to enroll. All for the sake of delivering holistic and quality education to students, it is only through fun-filled activities that assimilation of information is made simpler and interesting to students.
One of the key features of a successful student will be his thinking skills and he gets the basement for this quality from his classroom. Only a creative student can be a good thinker and that is why scholars round the globe are yelling for creative classrooms. There is only a minority of the kids who are born with creative mindsets and it is the good classroom experiences that develop creativity and thinking capability in the rest of the kids.
Those who are born creative might lose their talents if not encouraged in the right way. Schools or classrooms are the place where kids spend more than half of their life time and that is why it is the right place to foster different skills and talents in kids. Even when the curriculum lacks the right mix of creativity, schools are taking initiatives to promote classroom creativity with innovative teaching strategies.
Some may be wondering how classroom creativity can actually improve thinking capability in children. Here let us have a look at the widely accepted and followed classroom activities or strategies that foster creativity in kids that helps them to grow up with good thinking skills.
Open-ended projects: In normal project works, students would be given guidelines, set of topics to choose from and an evaluating technique. But this open-ended technique helps kids to be more creative with their ideas and bring up interesting works. The process and results of the project are related to how amazingly he/she can think about different concepts. Rather than sticking to tough guidelines, they can experience extreme excitement and would be glad to explore different ideas. This activity can very well enhance their thinking capability and feel amazed about their own skills.
Creative team building: Smart schools always include team building activities along with covering up curriculum to help kids excel in exams. Some dedicated time for such activities per week or fortnight can help kids to get to know each other and help others to follow their goals too. An interesting task can be given after separating them into teams and they can work on it together to bring out amazing results. The fun team building activity can not only help them to relax in between the tough study time but also gives them time for creative team work. This helps to improve their thinking process and come up with interesting thoughts as well as to accept others’ thinking process.
Student teachers: It is an innovative teaching strategy in which students take the teaching role. This is an interesting activity in which students would be given a topic to teach and will be given time to do their own research and thinking before presenting it. This would also improve their confidence level and oral communication skills and other students would be excited to learn the topic when taught by their peer. This is also an opportunity to experience the student way of thinking about a particular subject.
Brainstorming sessions: This is another classroom activity that can stimulate problem solving and intellectual thinking. Some puzzles or activities that challenge their brain give way for a lot of thinking and kids would be glad to showcase their excellence. Such activities that trigger their thinking would brush up their brain power and memory helping them to grow up smarter. Brainstorming web, fill up the blanks with some funny ideas or asking them to give a speech on a randomly given topic which are some of the interesting activities followed in such sessions.
Story telling/thinking: This is a good strategy that helps kids to go through an imaginative state of mind. When teachers tell a story, they would see the characters and scenario in their mind that is designed out of their thinking process. Try to include some interesting stories which can encourage curiosity in them that drives their thinking world. Another version of this activity is to let them come up with a story a day or let them write it up. In addition to notebooks, bring some crayons, clay or such materials in classrooms to stimulate their creativity and let them express their stories through some sequence of pictures. Promote reading in them right from the childhood as good readers become good speakers, thinkers and better human beings.
Open-ended questions: It is good to ask some open ended questions when they leave home for a weekend or vacation. Instead of just playing all around during their free time, they can spend some time to think about such questions and come out with interesting answers when they are back to school. And the questions can be a little tricky so that children can be more creative with their answers. This is a good strategy to promote some independent thinking in students rather than just following the daily lessons. This is also an activity by which teachers can encourage dissenting views.
Classroom debates: A good teacher always encourages discussions in class that would gear up their thinking process. Debate is the best form of classroom discussions performed so far as each student gets a chance to come up with their point of view or thinking about a particular topic. This helps them to think critically about the subject while respecting other’s views. Students who make the best use of it grow up as good communicators. Rather than a competitive atmosphere, a collaborative environment should be promoted where kids support peer learning.
Unconventional learning materials: Students would usually get bored when going through the routine class time. Instead, they would be glad to bring in some creativity in class so that they can think out of the normal. Teachers should take initiatives to bring in some unconventional learning materials once in a while. This can be a TED talk show or podcast of some well read speakers that can really impress or inspire the way children think about a topic. With the influence of digital era, smart devices are becoming an integral part of classrooms. Smart boards, interactive video sessions as well as education apps are triggering their creativity and enthusiasm.
Imaginative thinking activities: The borderline between imagination and reality is negligible when it comes to kids. That is why some imaginative activities such as puppet show are found effective to teach kids. This would gear up their imaginative thinking capability and they understand the concept with a creation of images in their mind. There are also some games that trigger imagination, decision making and problem solving skills in kids. This classroom activity can be interactive with some imaginative indoor scenarios. Another way by which teachers stimulate thinking is by giving them chance to build up a new game that carries some new concept. Foreign language learning sessions with interactive activities is another creativity boosting activity that brings lot of fun.
Work out passions: There should be a dedicated hour or period at least once per week for kids to work out their passions. Give your students time to express themselves in the way they prefer whether it is singing, dancing, poems, painting, drawing, acting and what more. Students can best utilize the time to explore their creativity and passions. Sports sessions are also really effective to set a goal and work towards achieving it. Including arts along with curriculum is an interesting way to dig deeper into your thinking instincts. Rather than just considering it odd or unconventional, it is important to set aside some time for creativity.
A creative classroom is beneficial for both students and teachers and the overall learning phase would turn out more productive. Such a classroom set up would stimulate the kids’ mind and keeps them awake always for fresh and innovative ideas. It is important not to force them into some activity which they barely have any interest but choose activities that help them to follow their interests and passions.
Classroom is the best place to find the hidden talents in children and a good teacher should take initiatives to foster their creativity and artistic skills during their school days. Along with interesting activities, kids should also be given a quality resource of good books and visual materials.
Gaining the child’s interest and maintaining it is a bit challenging for any classroom and such appealing materials and activities might do the trick. Also there are lots of education apps that trigger creativity and thinking in kids which keeps them educated and entertained.
