If you’ve ever seen a baby put something in his mouth that shouldn’t be there, you know that exploring the world through touch comes naturally. As children grow, this desire to experience through touch continues. Some of the most exciting lessons in my classroom involved hands-on activities. Students’ eyes would go from glazed over to excited just from seeing me pull an object out of a brown paper bag and pass it around.
How can we capitalize on the natural curiosity of exploration learning?
-Give the gift of time
In a classroom, plan five minutes at the beginning of a lesson for students to hypothesize, wonder, and record their ideas about your given topic. Giving them time to brainstorm their own ideas greatly increases their investment in the lesson (and stores it deeper in their memory banks!)
-Provide the supplies
This doesn’t need to be an expensive or elaborate step (believe me, I know how challenging it can be to go the extra step of gathering supplies for a lesson!). Especially in the home, it can be as simple as letting your kids cook a meal or rearrange the furniture in their room. In the classroom, it is 100% worth the extra investment of gathering simple tools or objects for students to work with or even just observe through touch. Engaging this extra sense allows them to experience learning in an extra dimension, adding color to the palette of their memory.
-Let them get dirty
We might think of science or art for this, but hands-on exploration learning can take the form of writing a sequel to a favorite book or challenging an argument from a prominent journalist. Whatever the learning topic, there is a way to engage the student. Chart the course, but put your students in the driver’s seat for getting there.
-Enjoy the journey!
I was often genuinely surprised and impressed by the projects my students came up with when we engaged in exploration learning. I loved to see the differences in their designs in something as simple as creating 3-D figures with blocks during math. Their independent creativity shone!
-Platform student learning
Allowing students to share or present their learning is an excellent way to wrap up a segment of exploration learning. Students could quickly share an informal oral presentation, film a video of their project, or write/draw their learning discoveries. Whatever the mode, being able to share with others what they learned carries a double benefit: cementing the concepts and developing presentation skills.
While exploration learning does require planning and prep on the part of the educator, the beauty of this type of learning is that it puts the process in the hands of the student. Instead of being talked to, students get to explore, wonder, and create. Who knows where their exploration will take them next!
What are some ways you enjoy seeing your children or students explore their learning?