Capturing the attention and imagination of students during lessons is crucial to the learning process. An interactive classroom that includes visual aids exhibit the fun in learning and help students to grasp basic and complex concepts. There are many wonderful technological aids to boost understanding, but mixing the visual with physical will help improve the learning environment immensely.
Before starting a new lesson, use your students as the visual aid. Students love to get up and move around in the classroom. It sparks excitement and gets the creative juices flowing. If you are studying American history, you can have one student represent the colonies and one represent England. Ask them to start a conversation regarding a conflict the colonists had. The rest of the class can act as supporters for one side or the other.
Basic toys work well as interactive activities. Tossing soft foam balls to students helps keep them alert during lesson review when touching on specific ideas. Use different sized balls to represent the planets in a science class. Toss them to various students, asking them questions about the planet. Tape questions to some balls and 'key answer words' to the others, then toss these to various students. A student with a question ball can read his ball, and students who think their 'key words' are a part of the answer can respond.
Worksheets help to assess students' knowledge and show how much they have learned since starting the topic of study. They can also function as a great introduction to a new lesson. Create a worksheet that contains obscure questions with multiple choice answers. Provide a mixture of outrageous and possible answers. For example, if studying women's rights in American History, you can ask "What is an Iron-Jawed Angel?" Answers could include a shark, a piranha, and a female suffragist named Alice Paul. At the start of the lesson topic, pass out the worksheet, allowing students to try and answer the questions. Randomly select students to give their answers to each question, and this will begin a fun discussion.
Relay challenges are also fun with any subject. In math review, divide the class into teams and students can race to the board to 'think fast' and solve the problems. The team that solves their problems correct and first wins. Track team victories with a colorful board and prizes for all. Prizes can consist of points that may be used on any test to boost a grade.
Planning is important to maintain a fun but orderly learning environment. Before employing any activities within your classroom, plan out your process. Assign days you will perform these activities; decide how often you will use them as a part of your lesson plan and how long each activity should run. Stress the importance of involvement. Winning or answering questions right is not the only goal; learning is the motivation.
There are many great ways to actively involve students in the learning process, all of which cannot be contained in this article. A search on the internet will quickly reveal a vast number of excellent interactive projects and ideas.
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