Hands-on learning provides learning by doing--helping a student to acquire knowledge and skills outside of books and lectures. Learning can occur through work, play and other life experiences.
Accomplished teachers include plenty of hands-on learning experiences, especially in science and math, to ensure student understanding of new and unfamiliar concepts. Hands-on learning can also be used to drive assessment so that teachers can measure both factual knowledge and comprehension.
The NBCTs represented in these videos demonstrate hands-on learning with manipulatives and experiments as they develop conceptual knowledge.
These two video clips are from Angie Gentry's exhibit, Awesome Area, hosted on the Digital Edge Learning Interchange. Angie, an NBCT from Crawfordville, FL, uses hands-on learning in her math stations to introduce her third grade students to the concept of area.
In this video clip, students use geoboards and potholder loops to create shapes with a predefined area. They can use these loops to experiment and design their own answers to the questions, and devise many different answers to one question.
Students in this class have had practice working in small groups and obviously understand their roles. You can hear that students are learning from each other, as one boy asks with great interest, "How did you do that?"
Activities like this encourage the development of discourse around topics in math, an important part of student learning.
The student in this brief video clip is using manipulatives, in this case tiles, to strengthen and reinforce previous learned ideas. Originally the concept of area was introduced in a large group ( See Opening Classroom Doors--Grouping: Large Group). Then the students worked in small groups to experiment and experience area in several different modalities.
In this clip, the student is not only measuring the area of the desk with the tiles, she is creating a pattern that uses the tiles in a symmetrical fashion. After she completes the measurement of her desk, she writes about her predictions and findings in her math journal.
Hands-On Science Stations
The following three video clips are from an exhibit titled, Energy Explorations, hosted on the Digital Edge Learning Interchange. This exhibit, by Kim Dutton from Crawfordville, FL, shows students learning about the various forms of energy around them in their daily lives.
This small group is performing a hands-on solar energy experiment to learn about the power of solar energy. The students work together to build a small solar oven to cook hot dog pieces for themselves and their classmates. Then they will write about the experiment and create a HyperStudio™ card to teach about solar energy to the rest of the class.
Kim makes her expectations very clear to the students and the viewer. She helps the children to develop independence and helps them to see that working together makes for success.
This clip shows students in the "Sound" energy station. Kim sets up the station with clear expectations of what she wants her students to learn in this activity. The students know the goals of the activities and will be both writing about it in their science journals and preparing HyperStudio™ cards to teach the rest of the class.
The students are describing the results of their experiments and why they think they got the results they did. There are "aha" moments in this clip, and more experiments later that clear up misunderstandings.
Other clips from this exhibit are present in the exhibit Opening Classroom Doors--Teaching Methods: Cooperative Learning.
Kim's students show that they have learned how to work well in small groups and show respect for each other.
This clip is part of Kim's reflection on the energy unit and the hands-on activities within. She notes that she sees the value of hands-on science activities to draw on the strengths of the individual children, and knows that these kinds of activities stimulate the natural curiosity and interests of young children.
Kim's comments show that she knows her role as a facilitator of children's learning and provider of content. She also shows that she recognized the importance of communicating her expectations clearly to the children so that they can do their best work.
Kim's use of inquiry-based learning has her students doing science rather than merely watching it. They formulate questions, conduct experiments and analyze the results.
Making quilts as an extension of geometry
This video clip, from Jean Kriwox's exhibit, Quilting and Geometry--Patterns for Living, shows the power on hands-on learning in a sixth grade classroom. Students first had a demonstration of quilting from a local quiltmaker. (See Opening Classroom Doors--Teaching Methods: Demonstrations.)Then, using the math they had been learning and the knowledge of geometric shapes, they designed and created their own fabric quilt blocks.
Students learned, sometimes the hard way, about the importance of accurately drafting their blocks. They also learned to be accurate in the measurement of fabric. This is an excellent example of the real-world application of mathematical principles.
As an NBCT, Jean knows the value of using community resources such as the quiltmaker and parent volunteers to make the hands-on learning experience a valuable and meaningful one for her students. Her careful planning of these activities brings theory into real life for her students.
Learning about Life in Outer Space
These three video clips are from NBCT John Derr's exhibit Space Station Idaho, to be published on the Digital Edge Learning Interchange. John's co-teachers wrote and received a grant to develop a Problem-Based Learning Web site about life in outer space. Their sixth graders studied life on a space station and did research and built their own model stations. The following clips show the other hands-on activities in the multi-disciplinary unit.
For more information on the Project-Based Learning unit, please see the Project-Based Learning link at the right.
As part of the hands-on component of this unit, students carried out many experiments related to life on a space station. Each group completed each experiment, and then reported on one of the experiments to the class.
Experiments shown in the video clip include using magnets and iron filings to demonstrate how filters trap particles on a space station, using colored filters to change light, and using toys to deomnstrate principles or rotation and balance. Students used the gyroscopes and ball toys to show some of the basic principles of space station and rocketry design.
In this short clip, John reflects on how his students learned an important lesson about experiments in science. As part of the grant, the sixth grade classes were given seeds which had travelled to space. they attempted to germinate them under normal and experimental conditions.
According to John, although the students carried out the experiments correctly, many of the seeds did not germinate. As frustrating as this was, the students were able to experience some of the frustration of scientists as they develop protocols for research.
John's students also were able to spend a day on the Idaho Mobile Space Station. They completed several activities designed to give them an idea about what life is like in in space. They did experiments about weight and gravity, communicated with other students via headphones to build structures, made and ate food similar to what would be eaten in space, used robotic arms to move equipment, exercised and got medical checkups, and piloted the spacecraft with a SIM game.
This hands-on learning enriched his students' research on outer space and made the facts learned come alive.
Other Exhibits
Additional Digital Edge Learning Interchange exhibits not featured here contain elements of hands-on learning. Please use the link below to view and explore these examples.
Author: Laura
Reasoner Jones, NBCT Organization: Teacher in Residence, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Credits: For comments or questions, please contact:
Laura Jones
Teacher in Residence, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
