A. What Is Hands-On Learning?

A. What is Hands-on Learning?
Hands-on learning is where teachers engage with learners in direct experience

as well as focused reflection to develop learners’ understanding, skills, and values. It is
another term for experiential learning, where individuals engage themselves in a subject
to learn. Also, it allows students to learn through experiencing something that can give
them an opportunity to immerse themselves in a learning environment, while putting
their acquired skills to use and to develop new skills. Furthermore, hands-on
learning means learning by doing. This type of learning is appropriate for kinesthetic
learners, who learn from examples. Students learn from participating in tasks instead of
passively reading a book or joining a lecture. Some examples include accomplishing lab
experiments in a chemistry class or writing a poem in an English class. This type of
learning can lead to increased retention of the material and a way for students to
practice developing their problem-solving skills (tophat.com, n.d.).
B. According to Skills Converged (2019), consider applying the following to

make the environment suitable for hands-on learning:
 Match the Teaching Environment to the Target Environment
Bring the learners in an environment where they can apply the new skills. For example,
teach students about art in an art studio full of painting and drawing tools rather than in
a sterile classroom empty of any art tools or creative content to get inspired by.
 Appeal to All Senses
As much as possible, set up an environment that appeals to all five senses. For
example, if smelling some ingredients is important, make sure student can experience
it. The same goes with controlling the sounds and visuals. Pay attention to tactile
sensations as this can boost learning and recall, especially for those that prefer a
hands-on learning style.
 Create Interactions
The environment should encourage interaction for learners so that, they will be able to
learn from each other as well as from the teacher. A classroom arrangement where
everyone faces the teacher discourages this interaction. Therefore, use U configuration
or islands instead.
 Fill Up the Environment with Related Content to Explore
Provide sufficient materials (both physical and digital) for learners to explore and
engage in reflective observation. This requires exploration which your environment and
activities must support. Don’t place learners in an empty room and expect them to go
through a successful experiential learning process since it must be something for them
to explore.
 Help Them Experiment

Once students have reflected and conceptualized an idea (reflective
observation and abstract conceptualization), they want to test it (active
experimentation). This means experimenting to see if their ideas or theories holds. You
must setup your environment in such a way that helps with this experimental stage.
Provide tools, supplies, props, materials, software, internet access, etc.
C. The benefits of hands-on learning
Hands-on is by no means a “new” movement in the classroom. That being said, even
today, many schools find it difficult to incorporate hands-on projects and principles into
student work.
According to Martin (2020), hands-on learning brings many benefits to students,
including:
 It is a more engaging way to learn
 It can lead to increased retention
 It can offer practice in problem solving and critical thinking
 It often results in a physical creation
1. Hands-on is another way to learn.
Some children learn best by looking at visuals. Some children learn best by listening
to a parent or teacher speak. And some children learn best by reading and writing
about something. These are called visual, auditory, and reading/writing learning
styles, respectively. But there is a fourth learning style that is easy to overlook:
Kinesthetic learning, which is a fancy way of saying “learning by doing.”
When students are forced to do something, they are engaged in active learning.
They’re practicing their skills and they’re putting their knowledge to the test. Most
importantly, they are actively creating knowledge, instead of passively consuming it.
In order to create, in order to do, students must be engaged in their education. And
engagement has for years been linked to greater academic success like increased
test scores and greater academic achievements.
2. Hands-on gives students practice.
Beyond simply leading to better engagement, hands-on learning allows students to

practice the skills that they have already learned. As anyone who has ever learned a
skill or learned information can attest to, the more practice you get, the better you
will be at that skill, and the better you will be able to retain the information.
3. Hands-on gives students something “real.”
When it comes to education, one of the most difficult things for young children to
understand is why what they are learning is important. They want to know: When will
I use this in my life? Why does it matter?
Incorporating hands-on learning into the classroom or into the home is an easy way
for parents and teachers to show their children exactly how what they are learning
can be used in the real world. Through hands-on learning, students will often actively
create something, whether an essay, story, piece of art, construction project, or
something else. This is something real. It is something that a student can look at and
think I was able to create this because of what I have learned and because of the
skills that I have practiced. Because of me, it is here. That realization is incredibly
empowering, because it shows students that they can have an impact on the world
around them. It shows them that they can use their education to achieve something.
And it’s a physical embodiment of what they’ve learned.
4. Hands-on lets students be creative.
Creativity encourages children to develop a new way of thinking about something.

This new way of exploring a concept or idea can lead to insights that may otherwise
have been hidden. A creative student may look at a problem and find a brand-new
way of completing it. Hands-on learning gives a child one more opportunity to
exercise their creative skills so that they don’t lose them.
It’s important to note that when people hear the word “creativity,” their minds often
go immediately to subjects like art and music. These are important classes for
children, and should play a role in your child’s education, they’re not the only way
that your child can be creative. Given enough practice, it’s possible for your child to
put their creativity to use in classes as diverse as history, science, and even math.
REFERENCES:
https://tophat.com/glossary/h/hands-on-learning/
https://www.skillsconverged.com/TraintheTrainer/HowtoApplyExperientialLearning.aspx
https://blog.friendscentral.org/benefits-of-hands-on-learning

A. What Is Hands-On Learning?

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

A. What Is Hands-On Learning?

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

A. What Is Hands-On Learning?

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

A. What is Hands-on Learning?

Hands-on learning is where teachers engage with learners in direct experience

B. According to Skills Converged (2019), consider applying the following to

 Match the Teaching Environment to the Target Environment

hands-on learning style.

 Help Them Experiment

1. Hands-on is another way to learn.

Beyond simply leading to better engagement, hands-on learning allows students to

Creativity encourages children to develop a new way of thinking about something.

You might also like