Arts and creativity are two inevitable elements of a comprehensive education strategy. Rather than just studying what is in the lesson through typical lectures and exams, bringing in some arts can help students to be more creative in classrooms. In fact, this way of learning is going to help them to grasp the lessons better, memorize it for long and apply what is learnt in real life in a more tactical way. A creative classroom is a good platform for students to stimulate their extracurricular talents and grow up as creative persons. A good teacher can utilize different strategies to teach difficult subjects by integrating it with arts. This is a better way of enhancing their interest for learning and makes them more alive in classrooms.
Students love to learn with play and arts. This is the right phase to mould them into better creative persons and open them a world of artistry. Here let us have a look at different ways to bring arts and creativity in classrooms and learn how this strategy is going to help them learn better.
Mosaics: Learning about new shapes is more fun with mosaics. This is an indirect way of bringing arts to classrooms and students find it really interesting to study about shapes with a deeper understanding. The young minds can use mosaics method to get introduced to new shapes with hands on experience. Whether it is paper, cellophane or glass, students can have some creative time in framing new patterns.
Script writing: This is an awesome way of introducing creativity in classrooms. Students can be given the task of writing a script for the given subject. Whether it is re-creating a historical event, or a simple short story in English or cute dialogue conversations between chemicals or animals, it can be real fun. This activity helps them to think critically and organize events to present better.
Folk Art: Teaching history in classroom can be fun and creative when including folk art as an assignment. When teaching about different ancient periods or old rulers, kids can be asked to represent the era with folk art. They can dress up like the people of that period and represent facts and information in a creative way. This type of active role plays gives them a better understanding of history.
Science labs: Learning about science is not always theory but giving chances for students to have a practical experience of the subject. Science labs should be given more importance than just lectures where students should be given the freedom to experiment what they have learnt in class. Whether it is chemistry reactions, circuits in physics or biology experiments, students will have a good time of self analysis and creativity.
Advertising: This is a fun and creative way of improving their language. Give them chances to create advertisements for selling their product. It can be a single page advertisement where they can bring in their creativity. Criteria can be set about the type of words to be used or word limits and this gives them a chance to show the power of their language even with restrictions. Teachers can even connect it with something they have already learnt in class for a better learning experience.
Wire sculptures: Kids would love to have hands on experience with elements that are playful and colourful and that is the reason why they love wire sculptures. This is an easy but quality art project for lower level class students. This is a better way to introduce and help them understand the line and space concepts. With this activity, they are inspired to learn, discover and dream more.
Draw a topic: Students can also bring out their creativity through drawing art. They can represent a topic by drawing it. It could be a novel theme, a country culture or even biology species. For higher level classes, they can even try out drawing cartoons for a sports event or a political scenario and print in student newspapers. Collage works are also another way to bring drawing into their assignments.
Map Art: This is a serious yet adventurous exercise for studying social studies with hands on experience. The map art is an interesting way for letting students to combine art and history for a deeper level understanding of the lesson. Rather than hanging maps in classrooms which have printed materials, letting kids to do the job makes them very close to the subject. This kind of arts in classrooms makes their learning process ignited and they would crave for more chances for creativity.
Documentaries: Mimicking documentaries is another way of bringing arts into classrooms. This activity includes making a small documentary of the subject taught in groups or as single. This gives them a chance to teach the subject to the rest of the student audience in their own way. When you give students the freedom over their learning, they would be pleased than ever before.
Math Journals: Studying mathematics with art would improve student’s love for the subject. Teachers use it to give students a math adventure and the difficulty levels can be varied with class. Bridges method is another way to learn maths that comes with basic word problems. To reach a conclusion, students will have to write or draw out the problem. For higher level classes, Cinderella software can be really helpful that includes virtual laboratories and geometry.
Schools that have tried experimenting arts with curriculum are seeing improvement in the way students have received the learning. It was evident from the voice of expression and creative confidence of the students. In fact, schools should not consider arts as something extra out of the classroom but as an integral element that should be treated with equal importance along with academics. Learning through creativity and hands on experience are a good assistance for students to gain a deeper level of understanding of the lessons. Let it be theatre, music, visual art forms or dance, including such elements in the learning sessions can really work wonders in their learning experience.
When in school, you would have thoroughly enjoyed a lecture delivered by a particular teacher. Then, you would start looking forward to the class he/she takes. In contrast, you would have also experienced a monotonous teaching pattern followed by another faculty.
What makes this difference?
It could be the teacher’s attitude, energy levels, and the teaching/learning style.
The learning style in particular can prove to be very important, as it allows kids to nurture a strong liking towards the subject taught.
Here, we try to shed light on different learning styles that help students to learn better. With these learning styles in place, they will begin to love what is being taught.
The Three Basic Learning Styles
With kids having different needs towards learning, educational experts have classified learning styles into three different heads. They are:
Visual (Spatial) 2. Auditory (Verbal) and 3. Kinesthetic (Physical)
Let us now delve deep into the above 3 important types of learning styles.
Visual (Spatial)
First in the list of learning styles for kids is the use of images and pictures that will provide them with a clear understanding of the area, size and position of different objects. Visual learning helps kids assimilate knowledge through observation. Tagged as the most powerful learning style, visual learners are kids who have a creative perception of their surroundings. When they observe an object closely, they will be able to absorb the minutest details concerning the object. In addition to this eye for detail, visual learners demonstrate the following traits:
They prefer to see and learn
Visual learners remember and repeat visual details with utmost accuracy
They are the kids who would need a pen and paper as learning aids to draw maps, diagrams and charts
If you notice that your kid is inclined towards penning down instructions, then you can adopt the visual learning style
A kid who is not much interested in listening can become a potent visual learner
If demonstrations about a particular topic thrill your kid, you have a visual learner who will weave stories about what he noticed through his creative pair of eyes
Visual learners cannot be taught through verbal instructions. It is only when they begin to see what they are expected to learn that they will actually pick up the details of the subject.
Auditory (Verbal)
True to its name, kids who love the auditory pattern of learning will be drawn towards listening attentively to what others are saying. Such kids will learn linguistics through the use of words; which can be through speaking or writing. Kids who adopt the auditory (verbal) learning style will show following characteristics:
They will remember and recapitulate information when they recite their lessons aloud
Kids who are attuned to a linguistic pattern of learning will learn better when they are explained orally
Certain kids who struggle with written instructions can learn by listening
You may also find auditory learners who talk to themselves when they are introduced to a new topic
If your kid loves to learn through group discussions, it should ring a bell that he/she is a student made for the auditory learning style
A striking parameter that can help you identify auditory learners is through their sharp listening skills. On the face of it, such kids might seem to be least interested in what you are saying. But in reality, they will be actually putting their listening abilities to test to grasp all that they can, when you are talking to them. Kids who can learn better by paying attention to what you are saying thus have strong listening skills when compared to visual skills.
Kinesthetic (Physical)
Also known as Tactile Learning, Kinesthetic Learning is a learning style that teaches kids through physical activities. Kids who make use of their arms and legs coupled with a keen sense of touch will develop an interest towards a particular subject. Typically treading the path of hands-on learning, it is an easy task to pick a kinesthetic leaner. He/she will be more agile with bodily movements rather than choosing to be a silent audience to a demonstration or a lecture. You as a parent or teacher can identify a kinesthetic learner if he/she mirrors the following characteristics:
Kinesthetic learners make utmost use of their hands to learn. That means, they “interact” majorly through hand movements
They have a strong inkling towards partaking in an activity that will help them master the topic
They learn by touching and feeling objects of study
Such kids are often found moving around from one place to another; talking or listening
Kids who have a mental make-up towards kinesthetic learning can sometimes be falsely classified under the category of kids with ADHD symptoms. Their inability to learn through visual or auditory means is the reason behind this erroneous classification.
There are umpteen ways to learn.
But are there only three learning styles?
No!
While the above mentioned styles come under the category of basic learning styles, there are other learning styles that can simplify the lives of students in more ways than one. All these styles which apply logic to learning can help your kid better respond to his teaching curriculum.
Let us now look into these imaginative learning styles with a brief explanation.
The Fourth Style – A Collection of Creative Learning Styles
Under this head, you will be able to recognize unique styles of learning. They are:
Aural(Auditory and Musical) – This is a combination of the auditory learning pattern with music. Kids who prefer to learn through music and sounds will follow a particular pattern of learning. They will listen, discuss topics with others, explain their novel ideas to others and pose questions. They use a tape recorder which will help them remember interesting jokes, stories and examples that were a part of the learning session. Recalling a pleasurable instance of a joke that was shared in the class during a lecture will help aural learners tag this instance to the topic of study.
Logical (Mathematical): You will agree with the fact that Mathematics is a subject based on logic. Kids who are gifted with an innate ability to apply logic to every problem will be able to solve mathematical puzzles and games. Applying reasoning to every mathematical step, they will arrive at the solution; the easy way.
If your kid demonstrates an early aptitude towards solving mathematical problems, you can encourage him to check out a host of fun-filled mathematical puzzles and games that are a dime a dozen on the internet. With these online learning tools, you as a proactive guardian can develop the logical thinking in them at a very tender age.
Social (Interpersonal): All those kids who love to make learning interesting by engaging in group activities or by interacting with other people can check out the interpersonal style of learning. Such kids demonstrate a strong grasp over linguistic and communication skills. They have a prominent social style that can either manifest in verbal or non-verbal forms. Their love for social interactions comes to the fore when they demonstrate a keen interest to participate in group learning projects.
If you notice your kid partaking in school activities like debates, drama and speeches, then you have a social learner who will garner the limelight in social gatherings as well.
Solitary (Intrapersonal): As a sharp contrast to the social learning style, you have a group of kids who love to indulge in self-study. They go by the principle that self-help is indeed the best help they can get to expand their knowledge base. Solitary learners, true to their name prefer to work alone, giving utmost importance to their privacy during learning. They have a strong individuality along with a keen sense of independence. They go by their own thinking and spend a lot of time on self-analysis.
Intrapersonal learners are happy being away from the crowd and rely on their innate intelligence to learn new things. Internalizing their thinking patterns, solitary learners come under the category of top performers who have learned about different topics their own way.
Closing Thoughts
All in an attempt to maximize the learning potential of kids, the above learning styles will not only help guardians match the needs of their wards to a befitting style but also helps understand them better. It is only when you as guardians pay heed to your kids’ wants and interests that you will be able to handhold them to make the most of different learning styles. Observation plays an important role in this regard.
Guardians, through observation will be able to provide a host of learning opportunities to kids to hone their primary and innate skills. In this way, they can become instruments of effective learning by introducing their wards to a combination of learning styles. This effort bears fruit by prompting kids to tread the path of a scientific method of learning that becomes an asset for life.
Bringing the concept of the age-old radio programs back into the 21st-century, podcasts have lots to cheer for. All thanks to the use of technology in churning out audio presentations of any topic under the sun, a podcast which comes in the form of episodes is a simple and easy-to-use educational tool. Alongside offering invaluable information to listeners, podcasts have gone ahead and become instructional tools in classrooms as well.
If you are curious to know how podcasts can be a good learning tool, here they come.
The Emerging Popularity of Podcasts Helps Learners and Teachers
The innovative use of technology makes podcasts an indispensable tool for education. Tagged as the latest medium of learning, podcasts have,in the recent past become popular tools promising an impactful push to both students and teachers. Simplifying the job of the teaching staff, podcasts come as a stress-free option to engage students with quality audio content. Students can learn about topics while on the go once they subscribe to a podcast feed. Another primal benefit of podcasts is that these audio presentations can be used for students of different ages; right from schools all the way to universities.
Portability and Convenience of Learning
Podcasts can be downloaded in your mobiles and can become your tutors in class. Portability and convenience are the two striking advantages of podcasts as with this students can enjoy flexibility in learning. You also have a round-the-clock access to information that is at your fingertips. Given a situation when your faculty is on leave, you can simply bank on this teaching resource and make the most of your free-hour to educate yourself about any topic of interest.
Auditory Learning – An Impactful Educational Tool Compared to Watching or Reading
While listening to podcasts is one way of learning, recording podcasts also helps students in more ways than one. Students can record podcasts of topic synopses and submit as a group assignment while interviewing their peers about what they understood about a particular topic. Collating all the audio-based information and editing the same will lead to the emergence of a comprehensive educational podcast. Not allowing students to get distracted, podcasts come in as blessings to auditory learners who will start assimilating information by listening attentively.
Lots of “Behind the Scenes” Activities
A podcast brings out the best in students by mirroring a number of their skills. Along with researching skills, students who record a podcast will also learn how to test it. Once the content is tested, it should be edited before it is finally recorded and ready to be published or promoted. Students who stir up podcasts will be taught the tone of storytelling when they begin to follow a flow of narration. You as a student will be prompted to record a podcast with a strict pattern of an introduction, followed by the explanation, eventually leading to a conclusion. While you are recording a podcast, you are simultaneously honing your communication skills, without the anxiety caused by stage fright. Upon recording multiple podcasts, you can slowly and steadily master the art of public speaking and engage your audience through quality audio content.
Subject No Bar
If you are of the opinion that podcasts have to be made only in English or any other medium of instruction, think twice. You can churn out a Math podcast by reciting equations loud and clear, so that you can help your students who got struck over a tricky problem. You can share your podcast amongst your friends who are finding it hard to understand scientific concepts and theories. Given the numerous ways in which podcasts help master subjects, teachers also encourage their wards to listen to popular podcasts under various disciplines.
Student Created Content – The Star Attraction of Podcasts
It is all about having a free hand while learning. Podcasts come in as valuable and interesting learning tools for students through the concept of “Student Created Content”. Allowing you to create your own podcast, you have the luxury of posing questions along with the inclusion of discussions that will help you complete your academic projects and presentations.All in all, podcasts come in as informal educational tools that favor the idea of collective learning.
Record Your Lectures and Learn At Your Own Pace
Undoubtedly, technology presents innumerable options to all those who wish to think outside the box. Prompting you to record your classroom lectures, a podcast can serve as an “anytime”, “go to” educational material. Tagged as helpful study aids, podcasts help students to prepare better for their exams alongside hand-holding them to grasp a difficult concept that was lectured in the classroom. You simply listen to the recorded podcast, pause when needed and go on to the next topic; at your own pace. Podcasts coming with the options to pause, rewind and replay will come as a blessing to students with learning disabilities.
A Boon to Students with Mental and Visual Disorders
“Learning through listening” can be the tagline of podcasting. Podcasts can be the best means of education especially for students battling visual and mental disorders. Such kids who are not comfortable with reading can opt for podcasts. Students fighting mental conditions like Dyslexia and ADHD can make the most of modern podcasts as a potent option to do away with the traditional methods of learning.
A Perfect Option for Absenteeism
There can be a bad day in the life of a student who is unable to attend his/her college or school. In such a case, you can make up for your missed classes by downloading the recordings of the lectures. In this manner, you will be able to plug the gaps that have emerged on account of your non-attendance to school for a day or two. Teachers can record their lectures and hand over the recorded material for the absentees to catch up with the rest of the class.
Guarantees A Uniform Learning Experience Across Sections
Given the fact that a teacher delivers lectures of the same topic to different classes, podcasts come in as teacher-friendly tools. Allowing the teacher to ensure that every student lays hands on the same explanation that was given by him/her in a particular class, podcasts help deliver “lecture consistency”. Students of different sections who listen to the lectures recorded by their teacher will be on par with each other with the same information being given out.
Wrapping It Up
All in an attempt to help you make the most of your learning experiences, you as a knowledge-seeker are at an advantage to master various subjects through listening. And if you are a teacher ordained to shape the lives of your students, you can bank on podcasts as the best tools that can help them learn effectively, without missing out a thing. To sum it all, podcasts come in as invaluable modern educational tools that can help the teacher and student fraternity in a number of creative ways.
The attention span of kids is very low than you can expect and so it is important to put in some serious effort to grab their attention.
The classroom sessions can be made interactive and interesting with a mix of learning and some gamification.
Here are a few tips that might help you to keep the students engaged in your classroom that helps you have a quality teaching time:
1. Warm up sessions:
A good start can impact the way students grasp the lessons. It would be good to start it off with a warm up session.
One of the commonly followed activities is writing some points related to what was taught in the previous class on the board. Students can actively find out the mistakes in it in a collaborative way.
2. Light movements
In order to improve their focus and attention, make them involve in light movements either in the beginning or in the middle of the lesson if you find them sleepy.
The activities can be varied according to the class you are handling. It can be hand-clapping, rhythmic finger snapping, cross crawls or light march.
3. Quick writes
When you finish a particular topic, you can ask them to give a quick write of what you taught them.
It can include important points covered in the topic and their judgement or conclusion regarding some tricky areas. This is a good way to keep students engaged with the lessons. This makes them focus more during the next classes.
4. Encourage to and fro questions
Teachers should develop a habit of asking questions in between their lessons. And also give students an open platform to raise some questions or doubts regarding what was taught.
This makes the classroom sessions more interactive. This also helps them to understand the lessons better. By framing questions and receiving answers, students can get a deeper view of the subject.
5. Mix teaching styles
Following the same teaching style in every class creates boredom among students and they slowly start losing the interest. So it is better to mix the teaching styles often and students would have a better learning experience.
Approach different subjects in a different way and consider the interests of the students too.
6. Gamification
This is one of the best ways to teach kids as they would always love to have ‘learn with fun’ experience. Games such as education bingo and bleep can be included to enhance their memory.
Their vocabulary can be improved with vocabulary games such as ‘sentence race’. Teachers can also bring in creativity games, team work activities and competition games to raise their spirit for learning.
7. Group works
Group learning is equally important as self learning as students can be trained to think in groups and improve their group decision making.
Group assignments can be given once in a while when they can share their ideas and work out a project. They can bring out their exclusive ideas while accepting or considering others’ ideas too. This is another way to keep students engaged in the classroom.
8. Video sessions
Video sessions are a good option to grab student’s attention and focus. The visual elements are processed faster by brain and this can make remarkable impact on their understanding of the topic.
Variety can be made in this strategy too by including video presentations with beautiful slides or giving them video tutorials. Considering its importance, smart board options are gaining more importance in today’s classrooms.
9. Connect with real life:
Students would find it interesting if teachers can connect the subject that is being taught to incidents in real life. This also helps them to relate the subject better and gain a better understanding.
10. Activity learning
Making the students to sit stagnantly throughout the classroom sessions can be really boring for them.
Teachers can utilize the classroom space and engage them in some activity learning to regain their interest. Jumping the line, mime or sports gallery can be tried once in a while to make students active and engaging.
This is the best way to make the afternoon learning sessions more productive.
11. Quizzes and polls
Once a topic is covered, quizzes can be conducted by dividing class into groups.
This activity is not only engaging but also one of the spontaneous ways to assess their understanding.
Polls can also be conducted to get their feedback on the lessons, which is another option to pass the dead time.
12. Education apps
Bringing in some technology to the classroom can take away the boredom and make the students engaging.
With the wide use of mobiles, education apps are now becoming an inevitable tool in today’s classroom. With puzzle, you can engage them with video sessions and Motion Math app lets you teach difficult mathematical problems through games.
13 Story telling
An interesting way to introduce a new subject is to start it with a story. Some teachers also bring stories in the middle of lessons helping students to relate some facts in a better way.
Kids would always love to hear stories and they crave for more. This is another way to engage them when handling tough subjects.
14. Autonomy Support
Including students in the learning process is really important to gain their interest for the subject.
Students should be given a platform to express their ideas or opinions during the activity.
They should be given ample time to understand a particular subject and don’t rush to the next lesson.
15. Flipped classroom
This is a credible learning technique which is being adopted in many smart classrooms.
Students are asked to prepare the lessons in advance by referring some video tutorials.
So when teacher discusses the lesson in the class, students would find the subject more engaging and interesting.
16. Teacher-student relations
Maintaining good relation with students is important for a teacher to make the classes more positive.
Students will have that freedom to express themselves whenever needed which gives them a sense of peace and happiness. Keeping up a pleasant classroom environment can impact the way they grasp the lessons.
17. Take small breaks
Instead of having an hour long teaching sessions, take some small breaks in between to refresh the minds of students. You can talk or share something out of the syllabus and have a chit chat time with the students.
18. Response cards
Students can be given response cards with options such as agree and disagree, multiple choices, yes/no or even emoticons.
During the class period, teacher can ask questions and students have to give response with these cards. This activity can make the classes interactive and engaging which kills the boredom of one way lectures.
19. Dictation
For elementary classes, simple activities such as dictation can do the trick to pass the dead time.
Once you cover a class, just give a simple dictation test to stimulate their memory and to make them comfortable with words and spelling.
It can be a mix of listen, repeat, read and write experience for kids.
20. A to Z class summary
You may conclude a learning session with this activity to help them memorize or revise what they have learnt in the class.
Students can write a summary of the class in sentences starting with all alphabets from A to Z. This activity can be done in groups or as singles. Teacher can evaluate to give a feedback and correct them if their understanding went wrong somewhere.
These are some of the commonly used ideas in smart classrooms to have a quality learning session.
Teachers can wisely apply the teaching tips according to the age or the level of classroom that is being handled. Know their boundaries when deciding on a new teaching strategy.
It is important to maintain eye contact with the students and always give a space for them to come up with suggestions. Similarly praising and rewarding their works can really motivate them.
Using contemporary materials whenever possible and differentiation can actually work wonders in enhancing the student’s liking and interest for learning.
Given the penetration of technology into every human sphere, the 21st-century teacher has more challenges to face than be at the receiving end of benefits. Notwithstanding the fact that online learning or e-learning is the latest educational trend, this pattern of learning has its own flaws.
Educators who have the responsibility of teaching students in the best possible manner will have to face the below-mentioned problems. To make this explanation a bit more comprehensive, you can lay hands on the modern approaches to teaching in contrast to the age-old classroom coaching practices that were in vogue from times immemorial.
Need to Personalize
Every student is unique with a certain level of intelligence. His needs are so diverse from the rest of his class.
The Bygone Days: In this context, the primitive pattern was to assess and evaluate the performance of students. Teachers used to spend a great deal of time reporting the performance of the class to their guardians. After reporting, the faculties used to make certain adjustments to ensure that students learn better.
The Present Scenario: As a striking contrast, the modern day teachers operate differently. They tread the path of practicality by collecting data points from each and every student; individually. They sit down to identify, prioritize and evaluate the data of every student in real time.
Teachers of the 21st century face the need to bring in an element of precision to data collation. They should not only come up with the type of data that is significant to every student but also identify a path to obtain this data at regular intervals. Relevant data is the only instrument that will help the teachers of today to personalize their teaching patterns and monitor the progress of their classes.
Use of Relevant Metrics
The Bygone Days: Earlier, students used to appear for a written or an oral test and wait for their result. Grades in the form of alphabets or scores in the form of numbers came as barometers to evaluate their learning and recapitulation abilities.
The Present Scenario: Teachers of the modern age are ordained to design data sources and concepts that appeal to the visual senses of students. They are supposed to come up with a seamless pattern of revising curriculum alongside adopting relevant metrics that will assess the over-all performance of students. An additional challenge comes in the form of connecting better with students through “cognitive instructions”. Once this pattern of teaching is in place, modern teachers will steer clear by uncovering important trends, patterns and possibilities for betterment.
Methods to Manage A Classroom Better
The Bygone Days: Bad behavior of students was always a concern to teachers. Classroom disobedience coupled with violent outbursts are not new to teachers. A barking student or a physically abusive one was always a threat to the entire class. As a teacher, the primitive ways to deal with such disturbing situation was to nip off fighting and bullying through a pre-defined set of rules and “classroom expectations”. Non-compliance would mean punishment.
The Present Scenario: Teachers of today are supposed to employ well-informed means and strategies to tame down the unruly behavior of students. They are supposed to spend time in analyzing and coordinating with students through classroom interactions. When teachers spend quality time with students through project-based learning patterns, they will be able to mobilize them and help them better interact with their peers. This challenge of soothing the nerves of a rebellious student will create a quiet learning environment for every student in class.
Incorporate Novel Teaching Patterns
The Bygone Days: Students in the past learnt by rote. They weren’t lucky enough to learn the way they pleased. All that learning took place amidst the four walls of a classroom, without any connection with the external environment.
The Present Scenario: In modern times, teachers are supposed to be the catalysts to learning. They are expected to explain students on how to find a solution for the particular problem. Modern teachers are supposed to promote the concept of self-reflection, allowing students to come up with their own solutions to their varying needs. The 21st-century teachers should go the entire nine yards to evoke the curiosity of their students and this is possible only when they attach innovative learning techniques like digital classroom learning and flipped classroom sessions. This can be taxing to teachers who should get attuned to technological developments that are marking the field of education.
Accountable to Parents, Students and School Administrators
The Bygone Days: Earlier, educators were ordained to teach students about different subjects. They abstained themselves from interacting with the parents of students on a personal level. Primitive teachers simply did their job of completing lessons without sparing a thought about involving their parents in their progress. This created a major divide between students and parents who were on different platforms. Parents were groping in the dark about what their kid learned from school and their role in nurturing the hidden talents in their wards. Kids weren’t informed of the expectations their parents had on them.
The Present Scenario: All thanks to technology. It is now a matter of a tap on the mobile screen for a message of a teacher to reach the online community of parents. Teachers are also expected to mail parents about the strengths and weaknesses of their wards. In addition to establishing a constant connection with the parents of wards, teachers should engage with students after school hours. Initiating informal discussions between students can pave the way for a congenial learning environment that can help both parents and students.
The 21st century teachers through an open channel of communication are expected to help students with a sense of warmth and care, despite battling their own stress-related issues. This stress is majorly caused on account of high expectations coming from all sides; the parents, students and the school administration authorities to deliver high GPAs.
Planning For Lessons And Class Materials
The Bygone Days: In the past, teachers were focused on completing the classwork along with attempts made to create a process of submitting assignments as homework.
The Present Scenario: Modern teachers have to juggle with multiple tools to provide a personalized teaching pattern to students. They need to delve deep into the interests of every student and come up with lesson plans and teaching guides that are in sync with their diverse needs and demands. Incorporating novel teaching strategies like flipped classrooms, teachers of the 21st-century should stay in good stead with technology as a promising tool for teaching.
Time Constraints
The Bygone Days: In the past, teachers used to tread the path of “chalk and talk”. They used to spend close to 7 hours in classrooms and later participate in meetings to plan and grade students. Thus, the working day of a teacher does not come to a close by 3 pm. This running behind time leaves them with no scope to indulge in self-learning.
The Present Scenario: Time constraints are still a major challenge to modern teachers as well. Some lessons are long while some are short. How can we expect a teacher to deliver a concise lecture on a topic that is so vast, within a 60-minute timeframe? Modern- day teachers have to juggle with creating their class materials alongside planning in-house activities that the school has in place.
Conclusion
All in an attempt to get recognized as an efficient teacher not only from students but also from the teaching fraternity, it pays for teachers to be mindful of the above challenges. Once teachers are informed of the difficulties they will have to face, they will be better prepared to tackle them so as to not only organize their daily teaching routine but also help students learn better.
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.
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.
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.
The subject of spreading knowledge is now poised to look up to these trends that will make waves until the end of 2017. Given the fact that teachers are constantly trying to reinvent themselves to offer the best possible education to their wards, here is a long list of education trends that will make teaching and learning as interesting practices. Keeping in mind the innate interests of students, education will be imparted employing the most modern techniques that will appease to both the learning and teaching sections.
So, here are the exciting trends connected to education that will become the talk of the town by the end of 2017.
Students Will Take On Center Stage
Given the technological advancements that are supporting every sphere of human life, education is another important space that is poised to register a fillip in 2017 on account of technology. With numerous advancements making their way into the lives of students, knowledge-seekers will be in a position to acquire a host of skills that will prompt them to compartmentalize information into important and insignificant data.
The year 2017 will see students wear the sash of information evaluators when they can make the most of digital literacy, civic education and media learning. This way, they can also come under intelligent creators of relevant content. They will be in a better position to evaluate information and their multiple sources. This development will make students stand in good stead by demonstrating what they know to the world at large through the creation of important content. Not only that, they can support their content with an evidence that a particular piece of information is worth learning and knowing about.
The Evolution of Seamless Learning Spaces
It is a thing of the past when education was confined to learning and memorizing within the four walls of a classroom. In the recent years, there is a paradigm shift in acquiring knowledge through multiple online sources. Emerging as a phenomenon linked to blended learning, students can bank on their smartphones to teach them about any topic under the sun.
You as a seeker of relevant information can enter into interactive online sessions as a part of educative forums conducted by subject matter experts in various fields and specializations. You can enroll yourself with an e-learning course that will help you gain knowledge alongside bestowing you with a course-completion certification. You can learn at your own pace and from the comfort of your study room with a 24/7 access to video tutorials, course material and online lectures. By the end of 2017, students will have numerous opportunities knocking on their doors promising them learning through real-world connections; the simulation-learning made possible with Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR).
The Omnipotent and Omnipresent VR and AR
By the end of 2017, we would be successfully becoming a part of the first generation of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality learning apps. These apps will bring in an excitement to learning through real-world simulation. These unique apps which teach students about everything and anything under the sun, will become the new buzzwords of learning.
With this trend catching up, the day is not far when more and more people connected to education will begin to bank on these technologies. These technologies aim at improving student-teacher engagement in a recreated environment which is so stimulating. And by 2017, you can expect a rush of technological innovations that will prompt more players to make an impactful entry into the arena of educational startups; employing state-of-the-art technologies.
Many More Good Alternatives to College
Not all students are cut out for college education. This is a well-known fact that is often heard in the teaching circles. In line with this ideology, the year 2017 will register a push to alternative and unconventional options that students can consider. They can sign up with a vocational school that imparts skill-based training. There are umpteen opportunities that are attracting the student fraternity in the form of on-the-job apprentice trainings. With the digital marketing industry growing by leaps and bounds, a plethora of career-progression options can unveil in the form of startups from students blessed with entrepreneurial skills.
The Unique Amalgamation of “Learn While You Play”
Alongside the popularity of AR and VR leaning apps, the year 2017 will notice a rush of learning games. You can actually get serious with your education by playing games. The world of game-based learning is expanding and thus promises you to lay hands on plenty of novel and interesting games. Promising the perfect blend of excitement and learning, 2017 will have more and more teachers treading the gaming path. This will introduce students to the fun element that can make learning a pleasurable experience for life.
Clarity Will Lead to Mastery
By the end of 2017, teachers will be employing strategic ways to include formative assessments to learning. They will begin to bring in feedback systems supported by a process of self-assessment. This will pave way for students to assimilate knowledge after gaining clarity about their learning goals. With these changes, the learning process is poised for a major overhaul coming in the form of intrinsic motivation. Grades will no longer become the only yardstick to educational excellence.
The time is ripe for students to become masters in their chosen subjects by doing away with the grading system. They will strive to gain holistic information from various sources in tune with their learning objective. Thus, it will be interesting to witness this change when grades will come more under scrutiny in 2017 than they had been in the earlier academic years.
“Compulsory Learning”Leads To “Choice Learning”
By the end of 2017, the educational curriculum of all types of students including the K-12 students will be skewed towards “choice learning’. Typically curated according to the learner’s choice, educational curriculum will register a sea change. Tag this with the emergence of debates about the advantages and limitations of choice learning in various educational contexts and you have a holistic learning model. Leading to the prominence of choice programs in schools, this learning trend will favor the student community to specialize in the subject that interests them the most.
Digital Badges – The New Age Academic Credentials
Gone are the days when teachers used to send report cards home for the scrutiny of your parents. Tagged as yardsticks to assess your academic performance in school, the new age academic credentials are currently gaining prominence. Bestowed in the form of a digital badge, this is a validated measure of the skill, quality and interest that a student has in his chosen subject. This is an academic credential that is easy to issue, earn and display across the internet. With the popularity of digital badges picking up from the beginning of 2017, the end of the year will witness a dramatic progress when these badges will become promising instruments of academic assessment.
Parents On the Pedestal
The school is indeed the second home of students. And their first home is where their parents will act as guiding light, constantly guiding them to tread the right path. The year 2017 will mark the beginning of a revolution with schools going the extra mile to engage with the families of their wards. They will make use of personalized and supportive technologies as a part of parent-inclusive techniques.
Schools will be seen taking the recommendations of parents by engaging them with parent interviews and surveys. Going one step ahead, 2017 will see great traction coming in the form of inviting parents to step in as educational contributors. Parent engagement will be the topic that will occupy the minds of schools’ administrators so that a holistic pattern of learning emerges with parent involvement and participation. The day is not far when parents work in tandem with teachers to churn out the best supportive pattern of teaching to students.
Machine Learning Will Make An Impressive Debut In Education
The concepts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning will seep into the educational sphere with more and more students interacting with computers. These two unique concepts will become the buzzwords of 2017 with the emergence of case studies and applications that will be facilitated by these technologies. This will pave the way for a new beginning of educational research.
Educational Conversations Facilitated by Siri and Cortana
The year 2017 will witness a host of podcasts, blog posts and educational conversations revolving around these virtual assistants tagged with the names of Siri and Cortana. It will be during this time that these virtual assistants will play a significant role in classrooms by bringing in learning experiences stemming from a new thinking process. With this, individualized and personalized learning techniques will percolate into the teaching sphere. Along with these trends, the emergence of computerized personal assistants for learners will ensure that the conversations continue and grow until the end of 2017.
The Teaching Arena Will Get a Makeover
If you are concerned about the growing rate of teacher attrition, then the year 2017 will provide a strong retort to this global predicament. Schools will invest in the direction of improving teacher experience alongside paving the way to entirely alter the identity of teachers. This will be the time in history when teacher workspaces will be built in accordance with the cultural scope of startups. Progressing towards a functional, supportive and collaborative makeover, teachers will prompt the management to bring in innovative technologies that can be used to demonstrate their importance. As an add-on to this trend, the year 2017 will register a higher traction with teachers being awarded the tag of heroes and most-valued educators.
Conclusion
Giving due importance to all the facets of education, the year 2017 will see a major change when it comes to helping students taken on project-based learning. State-of-the-art technologies will make their strong presence felt in imparting knowledge, attracting students to learn their own way so that they can enjoy a sustainable career progression. Along with technology, learning which is supported by the timely and regular intervention of parents and teachers can be seen as the most promising trend that students can make by the end of 2017.
You will agree with the fact that education should provide you with skills that will help you prepare for and face the challenges life throws at us. Gone are the days of traditional educational systems where students learnt lessons by rote. Not allowing them to think out-of-the-box, it was the age when teachers too were not equipped with skills that they could ignite the creativity in students.
With modernization, this drawback paved the way to include classroom activities aimed at improving the creativity of students. Teaching creativity as one of the subjects of study was made possible through a model of giving instructions to students with an intention to hone their creativity; a natural ability to thrive in a fast-paced and highly-competitive environment.
Here are such creativities that fosters education:
Teachers to come up with awards and rewards for creativity
Motivation is the first trick that can be followed by teachers. The onus is on the faculty to create a learning environment that not only recognizes creativity but also appreciates it. The school administration can declare awards to showcase the creative talents of students.
Every classroom which has students who provide creative solutions to real-world situations can be recognized and praised. This recognition will fuel the creative side of other students to follow suit. Here, you can create notice boards with the names and abilities of students who have come up with great school work and sing words of praise.
A Blend of Cognitive and Emotional Programs
What are the effective ways to teach creativity so that teachers can impart quality education to students? All in an attempt to provide holistic education to knowledge-seekers, it is through an amalgamation of emotional and cognitive functions that teachers can handhold students to tread the path of a creative lifestyle. Other abilities of students like mastering a musical instrument, developing a spatial awareness and bodily kinesthetic development can lay the foundation of a creative means to a comprehensive educational program.
Introduce a Host of Programs that can Develop the Creative Skills of a Class
Thinkquest and Odyssey of the Mind are some of the classroom programs that can be conducted by teachers who are inclined towards honing the creative talents of students. Becoming a platform to compete with the global fraternity of creative learners, it is through these well-designed programs that students from different parts of the globe can learn from the experiences of creative thinkers and learners.
Encouragement to Hands-On Learning
Quote unquote the famous maxim from Benjamin Franklin says: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” The underlying concept behind this thought is that students who are encouraged to tread the path of experimental learning can connect better with the subject when compared to simply lecturing from a text book.
If you are an English teacher, you can involve a group reading session. And every time you want to conduct such a session, you can pick one different reader who will read out the contents of the text to the entire class.
Media and Designing students are at an advantage when they can skip theory and involve themselves with hands-on learning. If you are teaching a class about fundamentals of web designing, you can encourage your wards to use websites like Wix and Squarespace. These are free website building tools that students can use to develop their own websites revolving around a topic of their choice.
Math can be taught the innovative way by implementing practical ideas teamed with working models.. Infusing a sense of excitement to learning will make students learn to solve problems related to speed and distance. This way, you as a teacher will be able to provide an innovative way to solve math problems through real-life examples.
The Use of Unconventional Learning Materials
Textbooks teamed with writing boards come in as traditional teaching tools. However, with technology impacting into every sphere of human life, you can promote the out-of-the-box thinking of your students by introducing them to innovative educational tools. Empowering students with TED Talks, Podcasts and Design Software, you can teach your kids to learn through audio-visual presentations.
When students listen to the TED talks delivered by role models and global leaders, they will connect with them better. Getting inspired by their life-stories, students who have TED talks as part of their educational curriculum will begin to enjoy the benefits of creative development.
Educational podcasts are handy tools that can be played in classrooms. You name a subject and you will find a matching podcast. Visual communication comes as another educational tool which makes use of design software to churn out innovative lesson plans for students. Through software-enabled visual communications, students can strengthen their fundamentals about a particular topic.
Class Discussions – A Practice With Many Benefits
Unnecessary chatter can be distracting not only to the teacher but also to a group of focused students who are all eyes and ears with the subject under study. Encouraging the entire class to become part of a meaningful discussion is definitely a challenge to every teacher. If your teaching strategy relies on such meaningful subject-oriented discussions, then it will be a favor to your students in the following ways:
A discussion initiated by you will get your students to apply their reasoning skills and enables the entire class to think about the topic
Effective listening skills are encouraged when the rest of the class is made to pay attention to a group of students who are coming up with ideas and suggestions about the topic
Paving the way for a healthy competition, students will go extra mile in challenging their peers by outsmarting them with an innovative presentation of creative ideas
Multi-Format Assignments – A Proven Means to Keep Monotony at Bay
Sticking to hard and fast rules can be very stressful to students who wish to demonstrate their innovative minds to the rest of the class. Teachers who encourage multi-format assignments fuel the creative steak in kids, alongside allowing them to come up with creative ideas to showcase their knowledge. It need not be a monotonous essay writing assignment that can become the yardstick of their intelligence. You can encourage your class to submit their assignments in the form of presentations, speeches and documentaries.
Stress Busting Techniques Become Light-Hearted Learning Mechanisms
Topping the chart of options to create a positive learning environment, teachers who encourage good sense of humor in classrooms are doing the right thing. that They can tackle stressful situations better only when students are encouraged to laugh and share relevant jokes in class
A Video Diary Allows Students to Peep Into Their Inner Selves
It’s all about the “three things” concept. Teachers, by the end of every term can encourage students to introspect the three things that went well, the three major challenges that they faced and the three things that call for attention and hard work. And these inferences can be presented in the form of an interesting video presentation for the entire class to watch, learn and enjoy. This simple yet effective exercise will permit students to take their learning journey seriously so that they can make the most of the education imparted in classrooms.
Education through Goal-Setting
Achievable and measureable goals are the biggest motivators in the learning curve of students. Teachers can encourage their wards to come up with a set of project or term based goals and write them down for everyone to see. A classroom notice board which displays the goals of every student will in turn serve as an empowering tool for others to tighten their belts. Once students are made to extend their efforts in the direction of reaching their goals, they will scout for creative means to finally arrive at the finish line.
Motivation Through Posters
A picture is worth a thousand words. In line with this famous adage, teachers who pin up motivational quotes on the soft boards of classrooms will be dealing with a bunch of students who constantly look up to such quotes. Inspiring them to perform better by the day, these motivational quotes will go a long way in shaping their creative instincts.
Team Building Strategies
Two brains are better than one. So true to this phrase, a class which thrives on the principle of team building can pave the way for creative thinking teamed with a strong sense of collaboration and communication. Allowing students to constantly interact with each other in pursuit of a common assignment or project work, they will experience a multitude of feelings. Alongside enjoying the thrill of success, they will also try to deal with failure in a better way. All these help them master the subject with a belief that they can bank on the combined efforts of their classmates.
Conclusion
A classroom which ranks high on creativity can make all the educational dreams of students a reality. All the above classroom activities can ensure that your students can hone their creative skills in the best possible manner. However, the onus is on the faculty to go the extra mile to encourage students to stretch their imagination through the above mentioned creative classroom strategies.
