Reflection on Activity Based Strategy

Activity Based Teaching Strategy

Activity Based Teaching Strategy is the resolved kind of teaching and learning method for both students as a keen learner actively enrolled in a particular task assigned and implicating on new creations. And as the part of teacher, they engage students in a zeal periodic forum whereby the students’ focus is more dynamically retention of knowledge with hands on practice/ learning by doing.

It is a method in which the child is actively involved both mentally and physically.

v         The Founder of activity based teaching strategy is David Horsburg.

Principles of ABTLM:

 

1   1.Activity based teaching is a learner centered approach.    

In the traditional form of teaching approach, teachers were supreme because they conducted the whole process of teaching with lectures and students were the stems of learning only to the extent of listening. The students work individually on assignments, and cooperation is discouraged. Activity based teaching shifts the focus of students becoming just a mere listeners to active participants to a controlled way of Student centered approach. These methods include active learning, in which students solve problems, answer questions, formulate questions of their own, discuss, explain, debate, or brainstorm during class.

2  2.Emphasis on experience learning

Experience learning is the process of making meaning from direct experience, i.e., "learning from experience".

•      The learner must be willing to be actively involved in the experience;

•      The learner must be able to reflect on the experience;

•      The learner must possess and use analytical skills to conceptualize the experience; and

•      The learner must possess decision making and problem solving skills in order to use the new ideas gained from the experience.

   3.Opportunities for learner to work cooperatively and collaboratively

Students are provided with opportunities in which they work in teams on problems and projects under conditions that assure both positive interdependence and individual accountability. Therefore, they work cooperatively and collaboratively.

   4.Activity based teaching encourages the union of work and play

When there is activity in a group, it becomes necessary for the students to unite as one group to come up with effective outcome.

   5.Uses child friendly educational aids to foster self learning

The key feature of the ABL strategies is that it uses child-friendly educational aids to foster self-learning and allows a child to study according to his or her aptitude and skill. They use materialistic form of equipments (computers, TLM, etc…) to self discover.

 Kinds of learning Activities:

The three kinds of learning activity are:-

1. Exploratory   

Exploratory learning is done through observation and searching information where learner just needs to absorb on what teacher is teaching.

2. Constructive  

Constructive learning is basically done through experiment where it mainly focuses on hands on learning.

3. Expressional  

Expressional learning is done through sharing information and articulating with each other in form of role play, presentation etc.

Advantages:-

1  1.Can be used in all the subjects

   2.Promotes better understanding of a lesson as it is learning by doing 

    3.Ethics are usually formed when using activity based 

    4.Enhance Self efficacy in child 

    5.Opportunities to work independently and in groups.

  6.It inspires the students to apply their creative ideas, knowledge and minds in solving problems.

Disadvantages of ABTLM:-

1.Low efficiency students cannot take active participation. 

2. Learner would lose interest and become inactive in the discussion. 

3. Lengthy procedure and requires (flawless) perfect planning. 

4. Focusing on activity to make learning fun can actually hamper those students

Criteria for organizing activity:

• What activity to do?
• Why or what for you want for them to do that activity?
• How do you want to go about doing the activity and what do you want them to avoid?
• Where do you want them to do the activity?
• How long the activity should last?
• How should the students work individual, in pairs, or in a group?
• What you want them to do with finished work?

Purpose of activity based learning.

ü  An activity is said to be the language of the child

Since, the main flow of activity is to inculcate better understanding and prior to that is, it gives longer retention of what the students learn by doing. Therefore, a child in his basic learning learns a particular subject by doing (processing activity) which in term becomes the language of a child.

ü  Improve social skills

Activity is mainly learned within a bound of a group or in class as a whole, therefore a decorum is created which is conducive for every individual child to explore, impart and intake view points and buildup social interaction hence, improving their social skills.

ü  Encourage self learning

The method encourages students to do self exploration, discovery with keen focus to bring in independency and adequacy.

ü  Make the learner do more than just listening and studying

In the activity based teaching strategy learners are with held by the teachers to do things beyond doing (at the most but more). Learners are kept engaged actively in the class not left out only to listen and study but to do, explore, expand, extent, discover etc…

ü  Greater knowledge retention and high level performance.

With the benefit of “I HEAR AND I FORGET, I SEE AND I REMEMBER, I DO AND I UNDERSTAND” -Confucius it is clear that the retention of any knowledge can be accessed through doing because as you do, you understand and understanding a subject matter helps learner to achieve quick remembrance and a high level performance in terms of experimenting knowledge.

ü  Active problem solving by students

The activity based strategy is focused on clear cut overview of problem solving with the balance of mentality and physicality aspect of performance in experimentation of problems by students.

ü  It enhances creative aspect of experience

The method involves the learners to do self discovery, exploration by them and grabbing the experience with enhancement of creativeness by individual learners on account of activities held, developed and viewpoints they engross.  

ü  Provides varied experiences to the students to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge, experience, skills and values.

The experience is the most significant phase of an activity because as they learn they are more familiar with what they do on particular aspect/situations. Students are therefore indebted with knowledge, imparting skills and values.

ü  Builds the students’ self-confidence and develops understanding through works.

Since activity based is manipulative way of students’ self discovery, they tend to take the stepping stones to frame self confidence and develop understanding skills through hands on experiences.

Steps for Activity-based learning:-

•   Planning

Teacher needs to plan before hand, what activity is going to be given to his his/her students and how to group them. While planning an activity to students we have to think of what? When? How? Where? Why?

•   Instruction

Ensure you give clear information before each activity. For each activity ensure you follow the principles of what? How? With whom? Where? How long? What after?

•   Check the understanding of the instruction

Let any of them to repeat what you have instructed them to do.

•   Organizes/ Monitoring

Go around the class, involve the children in the learning process and guide them if necessary.

•   Follow up

Let your student to present their points/views to the class

•   Evaluation

Evaluate the students’ work and pass the judgment according to their needs.

ROLE OF A TEACHER IN ACTIVITY BASED TEACHING AND LEARNING METHOD (ABTLM)

•   Planner

Planning is thinking ahead. As a part of a teacher, he/she should be a critical thinker. He/she has to plan in a systematic manner whereby they possess effective instruction mode for the students to learn. As a teacher, concentrate on planning-deciding what and how you want your students to learn. Teacher must show traits of well organized in their planning should communicate with students effectively and expect high probability of learning from students.

•   Decision maker

For every good planning, an appropriate and adequate need of decision is always regarded. Teacher’s ability to make good decision regarding the content, the experiences and activities to be used, the organization of classroom, etc. is crucial in any teaching learning situation.

•  Facilitator

Teacher as keen advisor/mentor should ensure that every student is engaged in learning. Help students to explore and experience further more with proper approach of questioning and answering. Teacher must have the respect for a child’s worth and competence with full fledged encouragement for instance, members of the group to contribute to the discussions and accordingly maintain non-threatening atmosphere that permits students to feel able to comment freely.

•   Knowledge imparter

Teacher must understand that the children can acquire different kinds of knowledge. Need to know concepts and certain manner and appropriate teaching strategies must be adopted. At the beginning of the school year, teacher plans activities, which he/she believes will be of interest to children and enable them to acquire new knowledge, skills and activities.

Resources are organized to support planned experiences and learning is evaluated to determine whether what was planned was accomplished.

•  Organizer/Evaluator

Teacher as an evaluator with the basic is the role to help determine strengths and weakness of students so that that evaluative form of process enhances school experience in learning and also to judge or calculate the quality of work done by the students. When, how and how the teacher will help learning to occur involves organization.

•  Disciplinarian:-As a role of disciplinarian, teacher should maintain the class decorum perfect to keep control of pupil during the class lesson or any activity. Before any lesson or activity teacher must gain attention of the students so they can get ready for the lesson. During the activity teacher must ensure that all the students are engaged in particular work without making noise or doing unnecessary work.

Role of the student:-

•   Active participation

Students become the active participants while doing the activity. They tend to get deeply engrossed in the activity as they feel to hands on practice.

                  

•  More interaction in collaboration with others

The maximum approach to teaching and learning method really relents upon interaction being taken place while conducting an activity because of its preference upon sharing of viewpoints and creativity enrollment.

•  Discussion (discourse) and research

•   Confident and well prepared

Due to the flow of doing and understanding, students get self confident and well prepared to whatever they perform because they get experienced by then. It is the manipulative form of self discovery and exploration.

•   Involved in the program flow

Students get carried away by the practical ways of enhancing knowledge in the new outlook.

Therefore, they become engrossed and enroll themselves to various ways to approach learning.