This week’s
class was presented by Sylvia Martinez.
I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation…I think! I say that because it felt like a whirl wind
with all the information came at us so fast that I could not absorb it all nor could
I keep up with the “chat” conversation going on!
I spent
some time exploring the websites: http://www.inventtolearn.com and I literally
got lost! I discovered so many links to
great websites that provided practical, hands-on learning activities for people
of all ages! I also toured around the
Maker Faire website and this too, was amazing!
http://makerfaire.com/be-a-maker/
I am a strong
proponent of hands-on learning activities.
I found the power of this teaching approach when I was asked to take on
the role of Activity Specialist working with children who have significant
behavioral challenges. My job was to go
around to 9 different school programs and do activity-based learning. This could range from arts and crafts to
wood-working projects and even included school-based field trips. Every school group was different and so were
the activities. What worked at one
school may not exactly work at another school!
In the end, I would say that any time kids had the opportunity to be
hands-on and creative, th
ey were very engaged! In fact, the biggest thing I learned was the strengths that these students had was in the hands-on learning activities compared to the traditional regular pen and paper!
To give you an
example of some neat projects we worked on:
(1) we read the book “Stuart Little” and students were asked to build a
model scale room based on what they would imagine Stuart Little’s house to
be. Supplies were: cardboard, construction paper, toothpicks, miniature
furniture from toys at home, etc. I was
amazed at their creations.
ey were very engaged! In fact, the biggest thing I learned was the strengths that these students had was in the hands-on learning activities compared to the traditional regular pen and paper!
Another example
was when I took students to the Science Center and we watched a movie based on
Tornado chasers. I went to the Dollar Store
and bought these plastic cars which were about 8 inches wide X 3 inches high
and we used cardboard, glue, tape and paint to build our very own Tornado Intercept
Vehicle (TIV). Students had a blast creating
their very own TIV’s!
