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Example of hands on learning


The Importance of Hands-On Learning in Child Education

Hands-on learning has long been touted by parents and educators as a key factor in raising children who develop a lifelong love of learning and who perform better academically. But what exactly do we mean when we say “hands-on learning,” and why is it so beneficial to students? Here, we explore both the concept and the benefits.

What is hands-on learning?

Hands-on learning is a form of education in which children learn by doing. Instead of listening to a teacher or instructor lecture about a given subject, the student engages with the subject matter to create something or solve a problem.

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Though certain subjects come to mind more readily than others when talking about hands-on learning (for example, shop class), the truth is, a hands-on educational philosophy can be incorporated into nearly any subject matter. This philosophy provides students with engaging hands-on experiences that will further develop the learning process. A few examples might include:

  • Solving problems as a part of math class
  • Completing a lab experiment as a part of a science class
  • Building circuits or working machines as a part of a tech class
  • Recreating a historical document or artifact as a part of history class
  • Writing a creative story, poem, or essay as a part of English class

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. This can be a particular challenge for public schools, which often have tight budgets and less freedom in developing curriculum.

And that’s a real shame, because hands-on learning brings so many benefits to students, including:

  • It is a more engaging way to learn
  • Leads to increased retention
  • Offers practice in problem solving and critical thinking
  • Often results in a physical creation

1.

Hands-on is another way to learn.

Hands-on learning allows for equal visibility of common learning styles in the classroom. Some children learn best by looking at visuals, some by listening to a parent or teacher speak, and some by reading and writing about a given topic. 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.”

There are a lot of theories about why hands-on learning is so effective. The reality is, there is no single reason why. But one hard-to-argue fact about hands-on learning is this: It is incredibly engaging.

When students are forced to do something, they are engaged in active learning. They’re practicing their critical thinking skills and they’re putting their knowledge to the test. Most importantly, this form of learning gives opportunities for students to actively create  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've 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.

We can see this in action in many science classes around the country, which pair traditional study (lecture, discussion, reading) with active learning concepts in lab sessions. While students may learn about a concept in the classroom, it is by walking through an experiment in the laboratory that they are able to put that concept into action and gain practice in actually applying it. This process has been shown to lead to higher retention and a better understanding in the subject.

3. Hands-on gives students something “real.”

When it comes to education, one of the most difficult things for young children to understand is how 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've learned and because of the skills that I've practiced.

Project-based learning can make this realization 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 is a muscle. Just like other muscles, it needs to be regularly exercised or else it will become harder and harder to be creative. Hands-on learning gives your 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. While these are of course 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.

You might be wondering how that could be. To answer simply: 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. For example, your child may have learned to complete a math problem in a certain way. But that doesn't mean it’s the only way that the problem can be solved. A creative student may look at a problem and find a brand new way of completing it.

What can parents do to encourage hands-on learning in their children?

When children are young and at home, parents have more control over how their children learn. At this stage of a child’s life, it’s important for parents to encourage hands-on activities that will challenge their child to learn through doing.

As a parent, there are various steps you can take to facilitate these yourself. You might, for example, encourage your child to create a diorama illustrating a critical scene from their summer reading assignments. If your child is an aspiring coder, there are many resources you can turn to online (or purchase from a store) to let them practice their skills. The possibilities really are endless.

But when a child moves beyond the home—entering a nursery program, preschool, kindergarten, or grade school—parents who prioritize hands-on education will need to find a school that shares this priority. In addition to evaluating the school’s curriculum and asking questions during the admissions process, parents should also keep an eye out for schools that embrace Maker Education, which encourages learning through doing and offers many other benefits similar to hands-on education.

13 Hands-On Activities for Kids That Will Make Learning Fun


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Hands-on activities for kids and teens make learning memorable and fun. Try these 13 hands-on learning activities that are versatile enough for any subject.

I still feel guilty. I carefully constructed my see-saw and placed the bucket of plastic army men on one end. Now, I was ready to jump on the other end and watch the bucket spin through the air, army men nestled safely inside, and land a few feet away just like the scenes in cartoons.

Except cartoons defy the laws of physics and gravity. Buckets of plastic army men in kindergarten classrooms do not.

I wish I could remember the name of the little boy I let take the fall for me. I’d apologize for high-tailing it in the other direction while our teacher scolded him for raining plastic army men all over the classroom.

Forever emblazed in my mind, that memory embodies hands-on learning at its finest. (Expect for my innocent classmate.) Activities that engage the body and mind enhance learning and retention. The best hands-on learning activities for kids are open-ended, versatile, and easily adaptable for all ages.

The following activities will work for any age and nearly any subject whether you’re looking for hands-on activities for middle school and high school students or ideas for your elementary kids.

Versatile Hands-on Activities for Kids

1. Build a Map

Increase understanding and help kids visualize history and geography with a 3-D map.  Building maps helps kids understand things like why Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt appear mislabeled on a flat map.

Maps help them see the role that geography plays in wars, culture, and civilization. Try some of our favorite hands-on activities with maps such as:

  • salt dough maps
  • paper mâchè maps
  • cookie maps
  • crispy cereal maps

2. Make Costumes

Kids love costumes, simple or elaborate. I’m no seamstress, so when my kids were little, we assembled store-bought costumes or simple, DIY options.

Sewing your own costumes provides hands-on learning for math skills as your child measures, figures out how much material she’ll need, and cuts out the pattern. Don’t forget to count this as home ec time!

3.

Put on a Play or Puppet Show

From writing the script to building the set, kids practice a variety of skills as they prepare a puppet show or play. They learn dialogue, descriptive writing, oral communication, art, creativity, and more.

Performing the play and acting out the scenes they create, reinforces students’ understanding of the people, places, and events they’re studying.

4. Create a Presentation

Oral presentations make a fantastic alternative to written assessments. Preparing the presentation provides an opportunity for kids to review. Presenting it showcases what they learned (and may highlight areas you need to go over again).

Students can assemble an oral presentation with or without a presentation board, or they can try their hand at PowerPoint, a slideshow, or photo journaling.

5. Make a Paper Mâchè Model

Easily add hands-on learning to subjects like history, science, or geography with paper mache models. Build a model of the earth or even the whole solar system.

Way back in the day, my oldest created a paper mache Leaning Tower of Pisa when we studied Italy. I remember my cousin making a model of the Liberty Bell when he was a kid. There are so many creative possibilities!

Think about science models, historic landmarks, or replicas of key elements from a novel for a literature course.

6. Prepare a Themed Dinner

You probably first think of history or geography when considering a themed dinner, but with a little creativity, meals could represent concepts from science, math and other subjects.

Fix pizza and a round cookie cake when studying circumference. Make a pie for Pi Day. Bake an apple pie when you study Issac Newton.

7. Do a Paper Bag Book Report

Toss boring written book reports and try a paper bag book report instead. Kids start with a paper bag and add items that represent some aspect of the book (or a person’s life, a time in history, or an invention). Then, they pull out the items, one by one, and recap the highlights of the book as they explain the significance of each.

8. Make a Lapbook or Notebook

One popular, hands-on method of showcasing what kids have learned is assembling a lapbook.  You can make your own lapbooks or try a variety of ready-made lapbook sets.

If your kids aren’t fans of lapbooking (mine aren’t), let them make a story notebook or notebooking instead.

For those who want to give interactive lapbooks and notebooks a try, you might like this Landforms Interactive Notebooking Pack or some of these notebooking pages on topics from botany to art/artists to geography and more!

9. Build a Diorama or Model

My kids used to love building dioramas for different biomes (like the ocean or desert), but you can adapt these little shoebox models for many different purposes.

If dioramas aren’t your thing, try other model options like a construction paper representation of Earth’s layers, a shoebox lid Roman road replica, or an edible cell model. Just don’t drop it!

10. Create Art

Your kid doesn’t have to be an artist, and his projects don’t have to be elaborate. Encourage him to choose something that represents some aspect of the topic he’s studying. He might try a collage of vertebrates if studying mammals or a painting of sea creatures for marine biology.

Kids can make their own cave paintings on paper bags. Let them create a mixed media masterpiece depicting a historical event or famous person or try their hand at sculpting with clay.

11. Write an ABC Book

Don’t skip this idea just because you have high school students! ABC books make a versatile tool for all ages. Use blank board books or homemade books to create an ABC story on any topic. The older your student, the more detail you can require for the book.

Your student can create a math ABC book – A is for angle, B is for base, and C is for circumference.

Try geography – A is for archipelago, B is for beach, and C is for canal.

The possibilities for ABC book topics are endless!

12. Play Games

Games make a fun, low-key way to learn new topics or review concepts. Bingo, matching, memory, or fishing are some of my favorite, easily adaptable, DIY games for almost any subject.

For fishing, tie a magnet to a dowel rod with a piece of twine. Then, put paper clips on index-card “fish” or cut fun fish shapes from construction paper. When kids catch the fish, they have to read or define the word, explain the concept, or answer a question based on what you wrote on the card.

You can also use your imagination, a pack of index cards, and the board from most board games to create your own homemade learning games. Jeopardy is a fantastic game for teens and tweens or try Periodic Table Battleship.

13. Take a Field Trip

We’ve done everything from caves (for geology) to a replica of one of Columbus’ ships (history) to an emergency room (health and safety). We’ve even done an official (as opposed to a homeschool stereotype) field trip to a grocery store.

Heading out to see the things you’ve been studying in person is one of the best hands-on learning activities around. Simple, stress-free homeschool field trip planning tips make a group outing a breeze. Try my field trip ideas for middle school and high school students or get some fantastic field trip ideas for preschoolers.

Hands-on activities for kids and teens make learning fun and memorable – plastic army men and 5-year-old innocent bystanders not required.https://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/encounter-with-a-homeschooler/

What are some versatile hands-on activities that you and your kids enjoy?

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Wendy Hilton

Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers | + posts

Wendy is one of the owners of Hip Homeschool Moms, Only Passionate Curiosity, Homeschool Road Trips, Love These Recipes, and Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She married her high school sweetheart, Scott, 31 years ago, and they live in the South. They have three adult children. Hannah, age 27, has autism and was the first homeschool graduate in the family. Noah, age 25, was the second homeschool graduate and the first to leave the nest. Mary Grace, age 19, was the last homeschool graduate. Wendy loves working out and teaching Training for Warriors classes at her local gym. She also enjoys learning along with her family, educational travel, reading, and writing, and she attempts to grow a garden every summer with limited success. (But she's learning!)

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Practical teaching methods in pedagogy

Practical methods are used in teaching to understand reality, develop skills and knowledge, deepen knowledge. For this, such techniques as planning the execution of the task, setting tasks, operational stimulation, control and adjustment, testing the results, identifying and analyzing errors are used. Practical methods are used in conjunction with visual and verbal.
Of the total number of practical methods, the following stand out in their structure:

  • exercise method,
  • laboratory method,
  • practical work method,
  • game method.

Exercises

Definition 1

An exercise is a purposeful, systematic and cyclic performance of actions, the purpose of which is to master these actions or improve their quality.

In order for students to fully master these actions, it is necessary to organize the exercises without errors.

Figure 1. Characteristics of practical teaching methods

Exercises are used in the study of all subjects and at all stages of the educational process. The nature and methodology of the exercises depend on the specifics of the subject, the specific educational material, the issue under study and the age of the students. It should be noted that exercises are closely related to the development of a culture of speech, regular thinking, and cognitive abilities of children.

By their nature, exercises are divided into 3 types:

  1. Oral. Their purpose is multifaceted: mastering the technique and culture of reading, oral counting, narration, logical presentation of information, etc. Oral exercises play an important role in the study of languages, especially foreign ones. Over time, they become more difficult depending on the age and level of development of students.
  2. Written. These exercises (stylistic, grammatical, spelling dictations, essays, abstracts, problem solving, descriptions of experiments, etc.) form the basis of training. Their main purpose is the formation, development and strengthening of the necessary skills and abilities.
  3. Graphic. These include the work of students in drawing up diagrams, drawings, graphs, technological maps, creating albums, banners, making sketches during laboratory and practical work, excursions, etc. Graphic exercises are combined simultaneously with written ones and solve common learning problems. Using them helps students much better to accept, comprehend and memorize educational material, develop spatial imagination.

Training exercises with a production and labor trend are considered separately. Their purpose is to use the theoretical knowledge of students in their work. In addition, such exercises contribute to the labor education of children.

It has been established that if the exercises are accompanied by teacher's comments and are periodically repeated, then they are much better and faster mastered by students. In general, the method of exercises has the greatest effectiveness among practical teaching methods.

Laboratory method

Definition 2

Laboratory work is the conduct of experiments by students on the instructions of the teacher with the introduction of devices, the use of tools and other technical devices, that is, this is the study by students of certain phenomena using special equipment. Laboratory work can be carried out in an illustrative or research plan.

The basis of the laboratory method is the independent activity of students in the assimilation of knowledge, however, all work is carried out under the guidance of a teacher. Most of all, this method is used in the study of subjects such as chemistry, biology, physics. It can be used both individually and in groups. The problematic laboratory method is considered more successful, since during its implementation a hypothesis is put forward, its proof or refutation is planned, and the required instruments and materials are selected personally by the students themselves.

Practical method

The practical method has much in common with the laboratory method in its structure, but differs from it in that students use in practice the knowledge they already possess. Thus, the ability to apply theoretical knowledge in practice comes to the fore.

The practical method contributes to the deepening of knowledge and skills, perfects the quality of problem solving, teaches to correct mistakes and control one's actions, activates cognitive activity. The following steps are distinguished in the practical method:

  • the teacher introduces students to the theory of the question;
  • briefing is in progress;
  • an example is shown;
  • work in progress;
  • The job is monitored, checked and evaluated.

Practical work, as a rule, is carried out after studying large thematic sections and is of a general nature. They can be held both in the classroom and outside it, for example, in the schoolyard. The practical method, better than others, helps to accustom students to conscientious performance of the task, contributes to the formation of such qualities as thriftiness, frugality, diligence. Children develop the skills of painstaking organization of the labor process (realizing the goals of future work, setting tasks and choosing their solution, creating a work plan, preparing materials and tools, carefully monitoring the quality of work, summing up).

Educational games

Educational games create situations that fully simulate the surrounding reality. The main goal of students in this case is to find a way out of this situation. This helps stimulate the learning process.

Figure 2. Characteristics of practical teaching methods

During the game, the children develop the ability to concentrate, think independently, develop attention, desire to learn new things. Carried away, children do not even notice that they are learning: they replenish their stock of knowledge, develop their imagination. Even the weakest and most passive children join the game with pleasure, making every effort not to let their classmates down.

The game also has a great influence on the sensory-emotional sphere. It creates a psychological mood among students, forms a positive attitude towards activities, and also allows you to repeat the same material in a variety and exciting way.

Recently, simulation games have become especially popular, when students have to reproduce specific qualities. Such types of game method as generation and dramatization of thoughts are also used. Generation is understood as such an activity during which students activate (generate) their thoughts to solve the problem. Dramatization, on the other hand, can manifest itself in a variety of forms: a dialogue on a given topic, a pre-prepared theatrical performance, etc.

It should be noted that cognitive games are mostly non-traditional teaching methods, but today they are regularly introduced into the educational process and give significant results.

what are they, their effectiveness and characteristics

Content:

  • What are hands-on learning methods
  • Types of practices
    • Exercises
    • Laboratory works
    • Practical work
    • Fulfillment of educational and labor assignments
  • Effective Practices
  • Educational games as a practical method
    • Features of educational games
    • Motivational stimuli of cognitive games
    • Stages of the game
    • Examples of educational games
  • Examples of practical teaching methods
    • Simulation game "Doctor's appointment"
    • Practical work "Acidic properties of carboxylic acids"

Contents

  • What are hands-on learning methods
  • Types of practices
    • Exercises
    • Laboratory works
    • Practical work
    • Fulfillment of educational and labor assignments
  • Effective Practices
  • Educational games as a practical method
    • Features of educational games
    • Motivational stimuli of cognitive games
    • Stages of the game
    • Examples of educational games
  • Examples of practical teaching methods
    • Simulation game "Doctor's appointment"
    • Practical work "Acidic properties of carboxylic acids"

What are practical teaching methods

Practical teaching methods are methods whose purpose is to form the knowledge and skills of the student in the process of practical activities.

These include techniques such as:

  1. Building a task execution plan.
  2. Statement of a specific problem.
  3. Operational incentives and rewards.
  4. Control and regulation.
  5. Preliminary check of results (testing).
  6. Identification, analysis and correction of errors.

Practical methods can be used in combination with visual and verbal methods, but, in comparison with them, they require greater independence of the student in learning.

Beware! If the teacher detects plagiarism in the work, major problems cannot be avoided (up to expulsion). If it is not possible to write yourself, order here.

Types of practical methods

The following practical methods are used in the educational process:

  • exercises;
  • laboratory work;
  • practical work;
  • educational and labor assignments;
  • educational games.

Each of these methods has its own characteristics.

Exercises

Exercise is the repeated performance of mental or applied actions in order to master them or improve their quality.

This type of practical tasks is used in the study of any subject, at all stages of the educational process. The nature and methodology of the exercises depend on the material, the subject, the age of the student and other factors.

Exercises can be:

  1. Oral - used to master the technique and culture of speech and oral counting, develop logical thinking, cognitive abilities, storytelling skills, learn foreign languages. Depending on the age and mental abilities of the students, oral exercises can be more or less difficult.
  2. Written - play a key role in the formation of writing and writing skills, the development of fine motor skills and other skills. Written exercises include: dictations, compositions, essays, reports, abstracts, descriptions of experiments, reports and reports, solving mathematical and physical problems, etc.
  3. Graphic - contribute to the development of spatial perception and thinking, memorization and consolidation of the material. These are any types of work on drawing up drawings, diagrams, graphs, technological maps, designing stands, albums, sketches, drawing from life, etc. Often they are performed along with written exercises and are used to solve the same educational problems.

The essence of any kind of exercises is that they are not an arbitrary set of actions of the same type, but have well-defined sequence . Important conditions for the effectiveness of this type of training are the gradual complication of tasks, regularity, and the absence of long breaks. It has also been found that if the exercises are accompanied by the teacher's comments, then the students master them much faster and better.

Laboratory work

Laboratory work is one of the types of independent practical work carried out by students in secondary general education, special and higher education in order to deepen and consolidate theoretical knowledge, develop skills for independent experimentation.

As a rule, they are carried out in laboratories or classrooms, and various natural phenomena and objects, such as chemicals, become the subject of study.

Laboratory studies can be:

  • group;
  • individual.

They are always held under the guidance of a teacher . First, the teacher gives instructions to students:

  • formulates the purpose of the study;
  • introduces the equipment;
  • explains the sequence in which the experiment should be carried out;
  • shows how to keep records;
  • explains how to format work results.

At the end of the study, students must submit a written or oral report . The teacher monitors the process and, if necessary, advises the students. An important condition for laboratory work is compliance with safety regulations.

Practical work

This type of work is carried out after studying voluminous topics and is designed to summarize the knowledge gained. Practical work is carried out not only in the classroom, but also outside it (measurements and other manipulations on the ground or work on the school grounds).

Practical work is similar in nature and structure to laboratory work, but differs in that the student uses the theoretically acquired knowledge to solve applied problems . The goals of this method are to deepen knowledge, skills and stimulate cognitive activity.

The uniqueness of practical work is that they best motivate students to conscientious performance of activities , helping to develop such important qualities in work as thrift and practicality.

Advantages of practical work:

  1. A person learns to carefully plan the work process.
  2. Analyzes how to better understand its goals and objectives, as well as the conditions and methods for solving these problems.
  3. Prepares tools and materials.
  4. Plans and schedules work.
  5. Controls the quality of its implementation, analyzes the results, draws conclusions and, if necessary, corrects actions.

Fulfillment of educational and labor assignments

Educational and labor assignments differ in that they have a production orientation and contribute to labor education. Performing them, students consolidate theoretical knowledge in real work activities . A necessary condition for the effectiveness of this teaching method is the presence of an observing party, that is, a teacher who comments on the activities of students and organizes its periodic repetition.

Effectiveness of practical methods

Practical teaching methods in pedagogy are considered the most effective. Evidence of this is a 1980s study by the American National Institute of Applied Behavioral Sciences (Bethel, Maine), which aimed to determine the effectiveness of different teaching methods, the criterion of which was the average percentage of learned knowledge.

The best performance was demonstrated by practical teaching methods in which the student was an active process transformer. Thus, participation in various discussions and speeches showed 70% efficient .

But the most effective were practical and laboratory work, exercises, dramatizations, imitation of real experience through play activities and teaching to other people - 90% .

It also turned out that training in a group contributes to a much better assimilation of the material than individual training. This happens because by performing practical actions, a person has the intention to achieve a specific goal. In other words, practical actions make meaningful and useful the knowledge gained in the process of passive learning (listening to lectures, viewing materials, etc.).

Nevertheless, in pedagogy it is impossible to manage only with practical methods, bypassing verbal and visual ones. Each of them performs a specific function, without which the full implementation of the educational process is impossible. In any learning activity, the key to success is an integrated approach , which uses a combination of several methods and their mutual penetration into each other.

Learning games as a practical method

Learning games are an effective means of stimulating interest in learning not only in children but also in adults. This is facilitated by the emotionally colored nature and the fascination of the gameplay, which help students to absorb a huge amount of information in a relatively short time, systematize knowledge and develop certain skills. However, for a game to have educational value, it must be is organically related to the topic under study .

In the modern process of education, game methods are used in the following cases:

  • as an independent technology for mastering individual topics and entire educational sections;
  • as part of a wider technology;
  • as a whole lesson or its separate parts;
  • in extracurricular activities.

Educational games can take many forms, but they all have common feature : a clearly defined goal , which has a cognitive and educational orientation, and a result corresponding to this goal . The game environment is created with the help of special techniques and situations that encourage participants to educational and cognitive activity.

Features of educational games

Educational games are distinguished by a number of features:

  1. Game context . Through an imaginary situation, an imitation of reality, the game encourages the achievement of results in a short time and a short space. At the same time, in the game, the participant acts as an active situation transformer, that is, he learns to solve problems on his own, and not just listen to the teacher's lecture.
  2. Availability of rules . Any game follows clearly established rules, that is, it has a structure that must be followed in order to remain in the gameplay. On the other hand, within this framework, the participants have the freedom for some improvisation and variation. Thus, a certain paradox is created - the unity of predetermined and hypothetical, rigidity and conventionality.
  3. Creative orientation , heuristic. The result is unpredictable, which gives it such an emotional appeal and encourages participants to learn. In addition, the game gives participants the opportunity to express themselves - in its field a person becomes open, sincere, natural. This is also the corrective function of the cognitive game - to help the participants to establish a sense of self-worth, to realize their "I".

Motivational stimuli of cognitive games

Cognitive game, in comparison with other practical teaching methods, uses the most motivational stimuli, such as:

  • close result;
  • the opportunity to show their mental and volitional qualities;
  • competitiveness, achievement of victory through demonstration of the best knowledge and skills, endurance, ingenuity;
  • joint emotional experiences of participants that strengthen relationships;
  • sacrament - an unreceived response that stimulates brain activity;
  • equality of participants;
  • the opportunity to try on different social masks, immerse yourself in an industrial or other situation;
  • creating a favorable emotional background in case of success;
  • perception of failure not as a personal defeat, but as an incentive to take revenge.

Stages of the game

The technology of cognitive play includes several successive stages:

  1. Organization . It implies the preparation of a scenario and game plan, instructions and materials for the game. At this stage, the problem and goals are also identified, the participants are instructed, the regulations and rules are explained, the distribution of game roles, the formation of groups.
  2. Holding . Direct work of groups with sources, "brainstorming" and other actions depending on the type of game. This is followed by an intergroup discussion, a discussion: the groups speak, argue their opinion, defend the results. In conclusion, the work of experts takes place.
  3. Analysis and summary . Participants leave the game. It is the turn of analysis, reflection, assessment of oneself and other participants, conclusions and generalizations, and recommendations.

The value of cognitive games is also in the fact that in the process the participants are relieved of emotional tension, stress, stiffness. Thus, the gameplay has not only cognitive, but also therapeutic function.

Examples of cognitive games

Games can be:

  • mathematical;
  • role-playing;
  • linguistic;
  • quizzes;
  • travel games;
  • simulation and modeling;
  • simulators;
  • creative and guided discussions;
  • dramatizations;
  • a method for generating ideas that resembles brainstorming in structure and nature.

Examples of practical teaching methods

Below are examples of practical teaching methods: the educational game "Doctor's appointment" and the practical work "Acidic properties of carboxylic acids".

Simulation game "Doctor's appointment"

The game is played in biology lessons and is intended for 8th grade students to consolidate knowledge about the human respiratory system.

Learn more