I recently read an article in the Sun Journal about students learning about agriculture in their chemistry class (Sept. 4). The class was going outside and students were getting “their hands dirty,” as staff writer Bonnie Washuk wrote. Among other things, the students were learning how to grow plants in their chemistry class.
In most cases, I believe that learning in a hands-on way can be better than traditional lectures. A lecture is students just taking in information when they might or might not be paying attention.
A hands-on activity not only forces students to pay attention (because they are interacting with an object and thus expected to produce something), it also can give them a sense of accomplishment.
Hands-on activities are also more memorable. The words of a long and boring lecture might go right past their ears whereas a hands-on activity is different and exciting, thus more likely to be remembered.
Schools need to involve their students in more hands-on activities, where they can learn about real world problems and actually have to solve them.
Without the hands-on activities, students are more likely to just sit in class and not learn as much. When those students get out into the real world and have problems to face, they won’t know how to deal with them.
Linus Obenhaus
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