What is the best way to learn? What is the greatest way to study for a test? Well, there is a different answer for everyone, but it is always important to stay engaged with the material. To actively learn is generally more helpful than passive learning.
Active Learning includes activities, discussions of the material, and allowing students to engage with the material in their own way. Some types of Active Learning include raising creativity as the students are meant to solve a problem. By taking a more hands-on approach rather than just being told the material, students can really see how what they are learning applies to real life and be able to figure it out on their own, which in turn, may help them care more about it and remember it better.
In an entomology class, the professor had us design our own insect species as a group activity; the only rule was it had to be anatomically accurate (with a number of features that had to be included), these features could be modified as much as we would like so long as it still had the features and labels. (For example, a mosquito’s mouth is much different than a grasshopper’s, but they still have the same mouthparts.).
Then, the students would make a diagram of the newly created insect. This activity was a great help to study for the exam. It helped to be able to use my imagination and create my own species. The activity made learning fun, and that is really the best people can do to keep students engaged and continuously learning. I found the creation of a nonexistent insect was able to solidify the concept of the basic forms, parts, and structures of an insect. I honestly didn’t even think of it as studying, but rather a fun activity.
And yet when it came to the exam, I was able to label the parts of the insect diagram with no hesitation. This was in no small part thanks to the activity, and there are many other instances where the active learning approach has helped me to more easily understand class content. Additionally, students seeking further assistance with their academic pursuits, such as research and dissertation work, may explore options to buy dissertation online to ensure their success in higher education.
Students all learn in their own ways, so while there was a structure to this approach, there was also a sense of freedom and fun in which they could create and explore ideas. Thinking about the topic on their own terms and coming up with something by themselves based on the material makes it a fantastic approach to learning. It was a fun, and enriching way to learn, plus the combination of art and colors was something that appealed to me, and would be a great aid to visual learners.
Research shows that active learning enhances students’ learning experiences, and I personally felt that with the insect diagram activity. It is better than sitting through a lecture or simply memorizing facts from a textbook. It helps students learn by doing, to learn through experience. It is more memorable to actually experience something rather than just be told about it. Active learning can help students to gain new knowledge through application.
Applying what someone has learned shows that school, classes, and what one is doing throughout college is not a pointless endeavor and is something that the student could possibly be doing out in the world. While it will not be exactly the same, hands-on activities and active learning helps to make the connections between life and school, thus possibly adding motivation to achieve in the class.
It is also something that will keep the mind more active than reading or a lecture, which could be “boring,” instead of simply absorbing information, you are using that information. Using the information, actively applying it, and perhaps even making it fun through games and activities all contribute to the active learning approach being a great success.
Other aspects of active learning are repetition and participation; these can help with studying and keeping the information fresh in the mind. It encourages interaction with peers and the material, which allows for conversations to keep the topic in mind further, it becomes conversation rather than just studying.
There are also ways to incorporate active learning within the lecture, such as asking questions to the students or having activities at a moment or two during teaching. Allowing the students to form their own questions is another way to utilize active learning. Making the students question or even challenge the material and reach their own conclusions is important in making a path that is the student’s own rather than a repeat of the same information.In the same way, creating a fun and different experience allows the dull repetitiveness of class to become something better, easier retainable.
It is like the “show, not tell” approach for writing, but for learning instead. Information can feel meaningless if there is nothing to attach it to, but seeing how the information works and is applied to a situation is great in helping the students to understand, rather than just know.
Generating an understanding of the subject and making it memorable is good for creating a nice learning environment. Critical thinking is important to a subject, and crucial to understanding and excelling in a course. What better way to do this than through action? Challenging the students but making learning enjoyable along the way. Assignments that don’t really feel like assignments but rather a real conversation, application that they can bring with them to the exams and whatever else is to come.
