Activity Based teaching Strategy

Activity Based teaching Strategy:

David Horsburg

He joined British council and worked at Bangalore and Chennai. He was the founder of activity based teaching strategy.

INTRODUCTION

• In 1993, Betts and Liow called for a shift from traditional ‘chalk and talk’ teaching methods to ‘active learning’ for construction students. However, this study appears to be the first to provide an active learning classroom for construction students.
• Most of the teaching is done in a traditional monologue session, where the teacher does the talking and the students are the passive audience, Little is known to the teacher on the amount of the knowledge consumed by the students unless the students seriously focuses on the key points delivered during the teaching, there is a definite reason for the knowledge to escape into thin air
• A variety of interactive activities designed to stimulate interest and involvement in the learning process with the positive outcome of seeing students actively participating in the construction of their own knowledge rather than being mere listeners.

What is an Activity Based Teaching Strategy???

•  It is a method in which the child is actively involved   both mentally and physically
• Learning by doing is the main focus in this method which a learner can remember for longer duration.

SIMPLE DEFINITIONS

• Learner is actively engaged in a task and learners learn by doing.
•  Points toward the learner’s active learning role.
• Makes learner do more than just listening and studying.
• Learners implicate creating and storing knowledge.

Principles of ABTLM

•   Activity based teaching is a learner centered approach.
• Emphasis on experience learning
•  Activity based teaching promotes acquisition of social skills by providing opportunities for learner to work cooperative and collaboratively. It provides potential and creatively in individuals
•  Activity based teaching encourages the union of work and play.
• Uses child friendly educational aids to foster self learning.

Activity based teaching is a learner centered approach.

•  In the traditional approach to college teaching, most class time is spent with the professor lecturing and the students watching and listening. The students work individually on assignments, and cooperation is discouraged.
• Student centered teaching methods shift the focus of activity from the teacher to the learners. These methods include active learning, in which students solve problems, answer questions, formulate questions of their own, discuss, explain, debate, or brainstorm during class.

Emphasis on Experience learning.

• Experience learning is the process of making meaning from direct experience, i.e., "learning from experience".
• The experience can be staged or left open. Aristotle once said, "For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them".
• Edgar Dale's Cone of Learning 
•  5% - 15% Verbal or Written
• 10% - 20% Visual
• 40% - 50% Visual and Verbal
•  60% - 70% Discussion
•  90% of what you experience

Opportunities for learner to work cooperative and collaboratively

• Cooperative learning, in which students work in teams on problems and projects under conditions that assure both positive interdependence and individual accountability.

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.

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.

Kinds of learning Activities:

The three kinds of learning activity are:-

Exploratory

“Exploratory learning” is done through observation and searching information where learner just needs to absorb on what teacher is teaching.

Constructive

Constructive learning is basically done through experiment where it mainly focus on hands on learning.

Expressional

Expressional type of learning is done through sharing information and articulating with each other in form of role play, presentation etc.

  

Advantages

• Can be used in all the subjects.
• Promotes better understanding of a lesson as it is learning by doing.
•  Ethics are usually formed when using activity based.
• Enhance Self efficacy in child.
•  Opportunities to work independently and in groups.
• It inspires the students to apply their creative ideas, knowledge and minds in solving problems.

Disadvantages of ABTLM

• Low efficiency students cannot take active participation.
•  Learner would lose interest and become inactive in the discussion.
• Lengthy procedure and requires (flawless) perfect planning.
• 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.

• An activity is said to be the language of the child.
• Improve social skills
• Encourage self learning.
• Make the learner do more than just listening and studying
• Greater knowledge retention and high level performance.
• ctive problem solving by students
• It enhances creative aspect of experience
• Provides varied experiences to the students to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge, experience, skills and values.
• Builds the students self-confidence and develops understanding through works.
• Effective in all the subjects.

Steps for Activity-based learning

1. Planning

•      Teacher need to plan before hand, what activity is going to give 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? And why?

2. 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?

3. Check the understanding of the instruction

•      Let any of them to repeat what you have instructed them to do.

4. Organizes/ Monitoring

•      Go around the class, involve the children in the learning process and guide them if necessary.

5. Follow up

•      Let your student to present their points/views to the class

6. Evaluation

•         Evaluate the students work and pass the judgment according to their needs.

ROLE OF A TEACHER IN ACTIVITY BASED TEACHING AND LEARNING MEHOD (ABTLM)

1. PLANNER

Planning is thinking ahead. Thinking about what, why, whom, when and how it will happen. If you, as a teacher wish to instruct in a systematic manner, then a substantial proportion of your time and activity will be concentrated on planning-deciding what and how you want your students to learn. It appears that teachers who are most successful exhibit three common traits:

•  They are well organized in their planning.
•  They communicate effectively with their students.
•  They have high expectation of their students.

2. Decision maker

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.

 It’s crucial in any teaching learning situation.

3. Facilitator

•      Shows respect for a child’s worth and competence.

•      Ask question to help children explore further.

•      Should be student centered.

•      Encourage all the member of the group to contribute to the discussions.

•      Maintain non threatening atmosphere that permits students to feel able to comment freely.

•      Teacher as a facilitator ensure the group works through each step in turn.

4. 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

5.      Organizer/Evaluator  
 Role as an evaluator is to help him determine strengths and weakness so that school experiences can enhance 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. (Space, time materials)

6.      Disciplinarian  
Disciplarian is to keep control of pupil during the class lesson or any activity. Before any lesson or activity teacher must gain attention of the student so they can ready for the lesson. During the activity teacher must ensure that all the students are engage in particular work without making unnecessary work or noise. 

Role of the student

1. Active participation.

2. More interaction in collaboration with others.

3. Discussion (discourse) and research.

4. Confident and well prepared.

5. Involved in the program flow.

My Personal View: 

After going through this strategy i have came across a new ways of teaching as i have decided to teach student verbally. Now i came to know about how much i was wrong, as a saying goes

"I HEAR AND I  FORGET

I SEE AND I REMEMBER

I DO AND I UNDERSTAND"

 

so I will not only teach student but also let student do as this strategy promotes better understanding of a lesson as it is learning by doing, enhance Self efficacy in child, it inspires the students to apply their creative ideas, knowledge and minds in solving problems, etc....