Sam Sublette | Reporter
Dozing off in long, boring classes. Figuring out what page the rest of the class is on in the textbook. Watching the seconds on a clock sluggishly tick away until the bell rings and signals the start of the next monotonous class.
These classes are not unbearably painful because of the teachers; instead, it is the lack of something more engaging for students to partake in.
That something is active learning. High school students do not want to sit down and listen to someone ramble on in
a subject that they do not see the importance in. Students are simply more engaged when there are hands on activities to help them understand the importance of a subject.
According to my own personal experiences, I gain more when I am given active activities instead of inactive lectures. When I am given an activity during class, my brain is more active, and I concentrate more on the task at hand. I remember the experience more opposed to the structure of lectures. Lectures focus more on soaking the content in without asking questions, whereas performing an active assignment, or even social activities, create memories that boost a student’s learning capabilities.
I am not saying that one cannot learn from lectures in a classroom. Lectures are the most common way to teach students about material. Lectures have taught many important skills, literacy, and basic knowledge to the general population, but it could be better. While lectures have taught people to read, write, and speak, the reason that most know those necessities quite well is active practice.
Most people use these traits when with their friends, family, or co-workers to help solve problems in the real world. Lectures kick start learning, but active learning keeps learning maintained until mastery.
Lectures have always done a good job with the basic learning of high school students, but the bare minimum should not always be the goal. With active learning, students can remember what they learned in school and put it to good practice.
By adding a couple active activities per week to a student’s schedule, that student may enjoy school instead of waiting for it to be over.
Graphic by Morgan Jones.
The Avon Echo 