Hands-On Learning In ECE Classrooms

Facilitating Information Retention Through Spontaneous, Hands-On Learning

I’ve taught many ECE lessons over the years. Some did not include hands-on learning because the curriculum had to abide by individualized student learning needs and state guidelines. However, I found that the kids in my second-grade classroom were truly eager to learn when I gave them freedom through hands-on learning moments.

I once taught a lesson on the differences between the past, present, and future. One of my students began fiddling with something under his desk. It didn’t distract anyone, so I decided not to say anything to him until after my lesson. When I asked him what he was doing, he pulled out a 3D paper model of a past, present, and future sign. It looked identical to the ones you see by the side of the road!

I was so proud of that student and relieved I didn’t say anything to him while I was teaching. He knew how to tell the differences and interpreted them through the familiar signage. It’s an excellent metaphor for how we should let things spontaneously happen when possible or appropriate.

The Importance Of Spontaneous, Hands-On Learning

Educators shouldn’t overlook the importance of spontaneous learning moments. It’s where the magic happens for so many students, especially those who learn differently. Researchers found that parents and teachers think hands-on learning is worse [1] than visual learning due to societal myths about styles predicting a student’s “best” learning style. Different students possess different learning styles.

It’s especially important to weave teachable moments into the school day whenever possible, given how many children are neurodivergent. Experts estimate that over 6.1 million kids have ADHD and between 5% and 20% of kids have dyslexia. Children who benefit from varied teaching styles will gain greater confidence in classrooms that give them opportunities to learn in those ways.

Useful Tools For ECE Teachers

Although you can’t always plan teachable moments and hands-on learning opportunities, you can implement ideas that are already in use around global ECE classrooms. The results boost each student’s academic potential and foster socio-emotional support systems kids might not otherwise form in classrooms with traditional teaching structures.

Hands-on teachable moments in the ECE classroom could include activities like the one my former student invented by himself—making models from individual lessons using paper, clay, or other craft items. Students could even act out what they learned with their crafts to further combine the lesson with their creativity and focus.

Engaging students with role-playing opportunities helps them retain more information [2] because they’re actively connecting dots, problem-solving, and making memories. It’s one of the ways hands-on activities are educational tools, no matter your classroom supplies.

“Spontaneous, hands-on learning can be particularly useful for formative assessment with young children,” says Jodi Abell-Clarke, MA, MS, PhD, author of Reaching and Teaching Neurodivergent Learners in STEM. “By allowing learners opportunities to be creative, systematic, and persistent on a spontaneous verbal or hands-on problem, teachers may reveal these skills and talents from their neurodivergent learners that may otherwise go masked by the barriers of more traditional school activities.”

Strategies And Processes Educators Can Use

Make hands-on learning part of your daily routine within your ECE lesson plans by studying other educators. There are always creative solutions to help kids learn in the ways their unique minds need.

“My classrooms have various sensorial materials to help children isolate and integrate the five senses,” says Dr. Jenny Woo, Harvard-trained educator, former Montessori Preschool Director, and founder/CEO of Mind Brain Emotion. “Children can choose activities like arranging different shades of colors using color tablets, ringing bells to recognize differences in sounds, and feeling different textured boards. We also integrate practical life materials such as loose flowers and vases to encourage children to combine their five senses and express their creativity through flower arrangements.”

Teacher Amy Blessing wrote to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) to describe how her students learned about black bears hibernating by constructing small dens out of branches [3]. They made blueberries from craft paper and used pretend stethoscopes to study the physical anatomy of bears with a stuffed toy.

These hands-on teachable moments in the ECE classroom are crucial for kids at all early educational levels. Blessing’s students likely didn’t forget their bear lesson because they were actively involved. Instead of listening to a 15-minute lecture that wouldn’t be as helpful for kids with ADHD, the young students got to use their imaginations.

Creating Spontaneous Play-Based Educational Environments

When planning for purposeful teachable moments, remember that setting is most important. The students need an academic lesson, alongside hands-on activities, for the experience to help their education.

“The environment most conducive for hands-on, authentic learning consists of materials that are open-ended, varied, and accessible for all children, where teachers facilitate lessons that support children’s curiosity and encourage and respond to children’s questions and ideas,” says Dr. Johnna Weller, Chief Academic Officer at Learning Care Group. “For example, in a preschool setting, children identified that they needed more space to store their creative work in progress when they wanted to ‘save’ a creation and come back to it. The teachers in the classroom maximized children’s questions by inviting them to create an invention that would solve that need.”

The children got to practice listening to and learning from each other. As you consider the importance of spontaneous moments, think about how the students get to use play for more than just entertainment. It makes life entertaining while turning each child’s education into a fun opportunity.

“As an early childhood educator, I believe strongly in a play-based curriculum as play is the work of young children. Early childhood classrooms foster social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development with the play as the mode for exploring math, science, social studies, art, and literacy,” says Dr. Norline Wild, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at Niagara University. “One of my favorite hands-on experiences is creating volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar. It is essential that they are afforded the agency to do this themselves rather than watch an adult.”

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