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.
The Founder of
activity based teaching strategy is David
Horsburg.
Principles
of ABTLM:
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. 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. 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
Students and teachers are
effectively engrossed as a part of teaching and learning activity. Students
seek help from teachers as well as do research for exploration of further
information.
- 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.
Thank you Nenuka,
ReplyDeleteNow I would like to think about the applicability of the strategy in our context and how you intent to use it in teaching your elective subjects.
Good day!