Top 10 Active Learning Strategies For 21st Century Learners

Education has evolved way far from the ways it was traditionally imparted. Technology has advanced tremendously and to pace up with the changed overtime learner’s needs has also evolved. In International Schools in Bangalore students today need more active learning strategies for constant renewal or real-time implementation of their learnings, rather than sitting in classrooms and perform predesigned assignments.

Active learning is a form of learning and an approach to instruction in International Schools in Bangalore where teaching attempts to involve students more directly in the learning process than other traditional methods.

Active learning involves actively engaging students with the subject through case studies, role-plays, discussions, problem-solving, and other modern techniques.

Active learning demands students to start meaningful learning activities in the classroom and think about what they should do and what they are doing.

Some of the innovative active learning strategies that facilitate critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity (the 4 Cs of 21st-century learning) are:

1. Individual, Pair And Group Tasks, Projects And Activities:

Individual – Writing a six words story or composing a poem such as a haiku.

Pair Work – Interviews, Conversations.

Group Work – Writing a script for a PPT presentation or a one-act drama.

In International Schools in Bangalore a pairing of learners with different abilities can also help in inclusion. This can be observed more so in group activities.

2. Peer Teaching And Reviewing (Corrections):

Paragraph without adjectives – learners find this a challenging task. First, they are instructed to write a descriptive paragraph without adjectives and then once their peers read and edit the work, they are expected to rewrite the same paragraph. This time they must include the adjectives. The International Schools in Bangalore once again the peers will review each others’ work and provide feedback.

3. Presentations Using ppts, AVs, And Handouts:

In International Schools in Bangalore the presentation using PPTs, Ads and Handouts are been done by Reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills are involved. Life skills are also ingrained as learners get insights on how to use ICT for presentations and how to draft content for hard copies which has to be formatted well so as to be printed and photocopied.

4. Enactment:

An example – in Act V of ‘Julius Caesar’, Mark Antony can be shown as conducting a press conference. Reporters (with bottles as mikes) are asking him asking questions on the battlefield as he makes statements about Brutus such as, ‘This was the noblest Roman of them all.’

5. Questionnaires, Surveys, And other data collection methods:

These are very important tools for authenticity and to gauge the mood of those questioned/surveyed. Google Forms is an easy to grasp and efficient tool that learners can use.

6. Reading, Research And Reference:

The importance of reading is undeniable. And research and reference techniques are to be imbibed and applied, without which plagiarism would be quite the norm.

7. Graphic Organizers And Prompts:

Mind Mapping, Venn diagram, Burger Paragraph, Slow Writing Paragraphs, and many more GOs are scaffolding techniques that can be used to make studying simpler and more engaging for the learners.

8. Negotiating Essential Agreements:

The International Schools in Bangalore negotiating essential agreements with regard to discipline, punctuality, neatness in appearance, learning difficulties, class work, and projects, handing in assignments, bullying, and other issues. The classroom becomes completely learner led when these significant issues are discussed and essential agreements are made between the facilitators and learners.

9. Mentoring Of Other Learners:

Mentoring of other learners in International Schools in Bangalore Learning Circle – A student-led learning circle would benefit the learners greatly. Each group of students (each circle) would be a healthy mix of different levels of students and those who are the best in different subjects. Thus, each learner in a circle will edify the others in the group. In this manner, all subjects can be revised by the learners themselves. The teacher/facilitator will be there to guide and encourage the learners.

10. Assessment For Learning:

Students make their own question papers as a class assignment. International Schools in Bangalore the teaches them to frame questions which will enable them to display their imbibing of the learning objectives.

When thinking of topics for compositions – They learn to unpack the questions and deconstruct their demands. When drafting questions for comprehensions – They improve in their skim reading and scanning of texts for specific details as well as hone intensive reading techniques. Skills of analysis and interpretation are embellished.

The above mentioned and many other such strategies should be adopted, adapted and welcomed with open arms in each and every learner led classroom for a complete learning experience.

Conclusion

No matter how different modern learning strategies are, in Harvest International school the quality, nature, purpose, content, and level of learners, the specificity of each classroom environment remains the determinant of any strategy we use. This is, of course, up to the learner as long as he is more familiar with the requirements of his class.

In International Schools in Bangalore learning should not be a spectator sport. Both students and teachers thrive when classes are designed with an active, student-centered approach. When students are invited to participate in structuring their own learning, both final outcomes, and motivation along the way increase. Students become more invested in their own learning. And the skills they gain position them for future career and college readiness.