Monday, November 16, 2009
Instructional Strategies
In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s indicated that hands-on-learning was a very effective teaching strategy yet teachers seldom used the approach. What could be the reasons for the lack of use of this strategy? For approximately the last decade, it has been indicated that an effective teaching strategy in the classroom is hands-on learning. However, some teachers seldom use this type of instructional strategy. What could be the reasons for not implementing this teaching?
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I am not familiar of what the research suggests but I can think of a few ideas. One of them is that hands-on activities require more time than lecture lessons, not only in preparation but also in the actual class. This may take away some instructional time from other subjects. Sometimes depending on the topic the teacher needs to have special materials to create the lesson. Many schools do not have extra funds to spend on hands-on materials. Additionally, if the class is large, hands-on activities can be very messy and even out of control, especially if there is only one teacher.
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ReplyDeleteI can see one of the major reasons being that it can be more time consuming to come up with and to find hands on projects. You also have to take the time to gather the material. Depending upon what you are doing this could be a lot. This is just the beginning. When it comes time for the project, it may take longer to do the hands on project than a normal lecture. Some hands on activities take multiple days to complete. Also when it comes to hands on activities it takes away from the teachers talking time. Some teachers do not believe that students can learn on their own and like to have the full control of the classroom. Hands on is more of a student lead activity with the teacher there to guide them on the right path. Some teachers don't think that the student can do this, or they don't like the fact of the control and that is what leads them to staying away from hands on activities.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that hands-on-learning is an effective strategy. I believe most students could benefit from learning through this strategy. I also think that there are going to be students that do not want/like to learn through participating in hands-on-activities. Hands-on-learning is more engaging for students and gets students actively participating in the learning process.
ReplyDeleteHands-on-learning can take much more time to prepare than other strategies for teaching. If a teacher were to try and make every lesson a hands-on lesson, it would be difficult to find the time to prepare for such lessons. The time it takes to prepare for the hands-on-learning is probably a main factor in why teachers are not implementing this form of teaching or not often.
Although I agree that hands-on-learning is beneficial to students, I do not think it is practical to be a teacher using only hands-on-learning. I do believe that many different strategies should be used in the classroom together.
I think that the reason teachers are not using the hands on approach as much is because it requires more planning, materials, and time. Each school day is very busy and each subject is only alotted a certain amount of time so it can be very difficult to find time for a lot of hands on activities.
ReplyDeleteI think most teachers don't use hands-on activities because they are not trained to use them correctly. They tend to stick with what they know. I agree with others in that time can be an issue, but the activity doesn't have to be a long drawn out activity. It can be as simple as learning how to read a map by using a map to plan a trip. Making the activities align with standards may be another concern. Doing hands-on activities for the sake of doing them doesn't help the learning process. If they aren't done with standards in mind they aren't beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that hands-on activities are very beneficial to student learning. I would agree with many of the above posts that one primary reason that teachers do not use them as often is because they are very time consuming to plan and implement. It can be done, however. Throughout my Level II experience, I have observed my mentor teacher incorporate hands-on activities into many subjects, primarily science and social studies. They were always effective and the students thoroughly enjoyed them. Hands-on activities used according to standards are great ways to enhance learning and should never be used as "time fillers."
ReplyDeleteAnother reason that teachers do not incorporate as many hands-on activities could be that they are so used to using lecturing as a primary means of teaching. Because they are accustomed to this particular instructional strategy, they might not be as willing to try other strategies. This also varies from teacher-to-teacher.