THE ADVANTAGES OF HANDS-ON LEARNING
IRENE R. PITLONGAY
Hands-on learning obviously engages learner who are tactile or kinesthetic learners, who need movement to learn best. They also engage students who are auditory learners who talk about what they’re doing and visual learners who have the opportunity to see what everyone else are creating. Well-designed, hands-on activities in the classroom foster connections to real-world situations and increase learner engagement. This commingling of the classroom and the rest of life is called hands-on learning. When students make connections between the concepts in the classroom and concepts in the real world, more parts of their brains are activated, and the knowledge gained more easily transfers to long-term memory. This style of teaching and learning also fosters the growth of critical thinking and problem solving skills. Another perk to hands-on learning is that it makes both teaching and learning fun again. School time is not simply a time to buckle down and do work but an extension of the full lives that your kids are already living.
As a TLE teacher, I see to it that every student has a chance to participate in every activities and have practical application to gain a better understanding in the different concepts in the subject.
There are significant advantages that illustrate why hands-on learning is better than other traditional learning methods and why should incorporate into classroom activities.
• Increased Retention- because the more they use and do the learning the more retention they gained.
• Increased Engagement – Each learners given a chance to manipulate the given materials, if learners know they are expected to replicate what they are being shown, they are more apt to be attentive.
•Opportunities for Critique- there will be an instant feedback instruction and critique to improve.
•Extra Practice – the more practice the more perfection you can get.
•Benefits of Differing Learning Styles- Not everyone learns in the same way so hands-on learning can provide opportunities for all types of learners.
•Improve Problem Solving- The learners expose challenges and obstacles they might encounter on the activity that allows them to ask for help from the teacher and confer with peers to further develop problem-solving.
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The author is Teacher III at Dapdap High School