What is hands on activity

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• Recreating a historical document or artifact as a part of history class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 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.

Interactive Activities | Hands-on Practice Activities

Hands-on Practice Activities

A hands-on activity is an instructional technique that allows participants to learn by doing. During a hands-on activity participants are directly involved in their learning. Participants get direct practical experience as they apply their learning and learn from their failures. Hands-on learning is appropriate for both physical and mental skills and tasks.

Hands-on learning provides many benefits. Studies have shown that participants, who are given the chance to practice what they have learned, retain 75% of the information presented. The transfer of learning to the workplace is high with hands-on activities because the materials and equipment are the same as what they will be using on the job. Because the learning is relevant and immediate, participants in a hands-on learning environment are highly engaged and motivated. Hands-on learning also supports critical thinking and problem-solving skills as participants are expected to be more self-reliant as they work through the activity.

There are also disadvantages to hands-on learning activities. While the activity demonstration will focus on key skills, you still need to troubleshoot issues and answer a wide range of participant questions. Often, you will find that more than one instructor is needed. The primary instructor presents the demonstration and the other(s) circulate around checking in on participants’ progress and answering questions. Also, hands-on training is sometimes rushed. Participants may find they do not get enough practice opportunities to memorize the steps. If you create a high-quality job aid to guide participants during the training, you can help them recall the correct sequence or procedure when they are back on the job.

For more ideas on how to use job aids to support participant learning, refer to Job Aids.

Instructions

How to conduct an effective hands-on activity:

1. (Optional) Distribute and describe how to use the job aid designed for the task, technique, or procedure.
2. Demonstrate how to perform the task, technique, or procedure. Explain what you are doing and pause to demonstrate the steps. Refer to the job aid when appropriate.
3. Ask participants to turn and describe the process to their partner. This helps participants internalize what they have learned. It also serves as a knowledge check as they can verify their memories of details with their partner.
4. Ask participants questions about the key points of the demonstration. Answer participant questions.
5. Monitor and provide guidance as participants practice performing the task, technique, or procedure.
6. Provide both positive and corrective feedback so participants understand when they did something right and when they made mistakes.
7. Allow participants to practice until they can perform the action without any errors.

Example

In the NHI “Bridge Inspector Refresher Training” course, participants practice selecting the appropriate codes for structure inventory and appraisal and structure type for the National Bridge Inventory (NBI). For his NHI “Instructor Development Course” training presentation, “Superstructure Type Identification,” Patrick Kane created a job aid for a hands-on activity using a page from the participant workbook. Figure 31 displays the practice coding worksheet Kane created for his training presentation. Figure 32 displays the job aid for used in the NBI coding activity.

Source: Kane (2018).

Source: NHI (n.d.)

Instructor-Led Training

If the practice activity is complex, you can ask participants to work with a partner or in a table group to complete it. Facilitate the collaboration by providing only one set of documentation so that participants have to get out of their chairs in order to work together.

Web Conference Training

If participants will be working independently, provide a Worked Example or Job Aid to follow. Give participants a way to contact the instructor directly if they have any questions or difficulties while completing the activity.

Sitemap | References

Hand-to-hand combat - BU "TsSPSKYU"

Federation of hand-to-hand combat of Russia

History of the development of hand-to-hand combat in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Yugra

The history of the development of hand-to-hand combat in the district begins in 1989. Kurgansky Yuri Pavlovich, Nikolai Zabaluev and Gadzhiev Ramazan created two clubs in Surgut, in which the guys began to engage in hand-to-hand combat. In 1990 the first competition among schools and clubs of Surgut took place. From that moment on, such competitions began to be held annually.
In parallel with the development of children's sports, hand-to-hand combat began to be actively cultivated by law enforcement agencies as an applied sport. Thanks to Zaitsev Valery Vasilyevich, a police lieutenant colonel, the first master of sports in hand-to-hand combat, Timur Davydov, appeared in the district. Since 1998, championships, championships and cups of Ugra have been regularly held. Our masters perform worthily at All-Russian and International competitions.

Today, hand-to-hand combat is being developed in almost every settlement of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Yugra, many cities of the district successfully compete with Surgut.

In 2019, the following competitions were held on the territory of the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug:

• 17 Championships of KhMAO-Yugra

• 2 cups

• 8 tournaments

Hand-to-hand combat is developing in 17 municipalities of the Autonomous Okrug: Surgut, Langepas, Nefteyugansk, Khanty-Mansiysk, Nyagan, Uray, Surgutsky District, Raduzhny, Oktyabrsky District, Megion, Beloyarsky District, Kogalym, Nizhnevartovsk, Pyt-Yakh, Surgutsky District, Nefteyugansky district, Yugorsk

Khanty-Mansiysk	MBU IC "Druzhba"
Langepas	MAOU DO "Center for sports and military-patriotic training of children and youth"
Megion	MAU DO YOUTH "Vympel"
Nizhnevartovsk	MAU Nizhnevartovsk "Sports School"
Nefteyugansk	MBU DO "SDYUSSHOR in Judo"
Nyagan	MAU DO MO Nyagan "Center "Patriot"
Pyt-Yakh	MBU US
Surgut	MBU SP secondary school "Victoria"
Oktyabrsky district	MBU DO "DDT p. Unyugan" MBU DO "DDT New generation of the village of Priobye"
Sovietsky district	MBU KSK "Rus" p. Zelenoborsk

The number of athletes involved in KhMAO-Yugra is 2778 , of which 659 are engaged in the sports training program (5-FC). The coaching staff is 22 people. 29 Ugra athletes have the title of "Master of Sports of Russia."

Athletes of KhMAO-Yugra

Members of the Russian national team 2 people:

Results statistics

New article about our activities: Education in combat.

Our friends Maxim Tsvetkov and Nikolai Rozhkov from the Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov in Kuntsevo visited us for a lesson. After our conversation, an article came out.

We present to your attention an article by Maxim Tsvetkov: "Education in combat ... Hand-to-hand". Here you can get acquainted with its content:

"Hand-to-hand combatants" - this is how the students of the Center of Russian Hand-to-Hand Combat named after A.V. Suvorov call themselves (www.rukopashniki.ru). CRRB originates from 2004 as an Orthodox patriotic club "Zlatoust", and it acquired its modern form in 2006. The founder of the Center and the main leader of hand-to-hand fighters is Andrey Leonidovich Baidalov, a professional teacher and author of most of the methods and programs of the Center. In CRRB hand-to-hand combat and applied shooting are practiced by people of different ages, starting from 3 years old, and practically of any social status...

Visiting melee.

Winter evening, minus-thirty frost - pricks the face and "grabs" the hands. My friend Nikolai and I approach the school building, which houses the purpose of our visit. There are random passers-by on the street, there are no habitually frolicking children on the playgrounds.

The doors of the school swing open and… we find ourselves in another dimension of our cold city! A great multitude of children and their parents swallowed us up, overwhelmed us with their carefree and joyful fuss. We must somehow get to the locker room ...

Jackets with hooks, mobile phones in bags. The guard no longer asks where we are: the slightly worn khaki trousers on me and our already familiar faces made it clear to him that we were heading to the hand-to-hand combatants - to the Kuntsevo branch of the A.V. Suvorov.

We go up to the office, where the "headquarters" of the melee is located. The head coach of the CRRB Andrey Leonidovich is surrounded by children and explains something to them. Having noticed us and greeted us, he, unable to tear himself away from the restless children, directs us to the gym with the words: “Now shoot ...” So here it is: they came to hand-to-hand combat training, and got to the shooting - good luck!

A real laser shooting range unfolded in front of us in the gym! Pistols, submachine guns, sensors. Hands reach for weapons themselves - to try ...

We were lined up together with hand-to-hand fighters (both boys and girls were there) and told about the upcoming training. The firing turned out to be not just a planned element of training - they were dedicated to the anniversary of the lifting of the blockade of Leningrad on January 27, 1944.

The training began with a common prayer (however, prayer is not compulsory, because not only Orthodox go to hand-to-hand combat).

The main simulator - a large shooting range with a projector, screen and sensors. They called him separately, by last name. Everyone else at that time could work out their shooting skills on the other two simulators, which I did.

First I decided to pick up the good old Makarov pistol. The task is to take the fly "ten" on a paper target, close your eyes, lower your hands, and then raise them again. It turns out that the stance trains with such an exercise. If the shooter's stance is correct, then he will be able to catch the target again - almost blindly. I'll be honest: I tried to “break through” the wall below the target ... And who said that it would be easy?

Another simulator - prone shooting from Yarygin pistol. On the one hand there are mats for the preparation, on the other - four target-sensors at different distances from the shooter. Here I got better results, although it took shooting.

After a while they called my last name. Together with two more hand-to-hand fighters I approach the main shooting range.

There is already a choice of a Glock pistol, a Kalashnikov assault rifle, and a Drozd submachine gun, which I just got. Shooting is given three times at virtual targets, each - 15 shots. The first two are sighting, the last one is for credit.

By the way, a little later I managed to shoot in the virtual shooting range again. This time I armed myself with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, the target was 20 meters from me ... Virtually, of course - on the screen.

- We have recently been shooting from laser weapons, - Andrey Leonidovich said. - It is inconvenient to use pneumatic weapons in the school gym. We once tried to train with an airsoft gun... So then the cleaners almost ate us when they had to sweep the balls out of the gym.

Children are happy: not a drop of boredom on their faces! Still - they shoot, they imagine themselves as soldiers, heroes, holding a gun in their hands. Those who have already shot - just run, play: here they can throw out their energy after a school day, and adults will not pull them up every time.

However, the discipline here is all right. Mentors follow strictly - periodically make comments for improper handling of pistols. A weapon is a weapon, even if it's a laser and doesn't really shoot. Hand-to-hand fighters must be able to handle it and, like no one else, understand what it is capable of.

- At least here the children can shoot or even just hold a weapon, - Andrey Leonidovich shared with me. “Many of the guys have never picked up a gun or a rifle in their lives.

It's getting dark outside the windows. The training time is coming to an end. Again - construction, and on it - summing up. And then it turned out that I unwittingly took the first place from the guys according to the results of shooting at the shooting range ... But it would be unfair not to say that I had worthy rivals who lacked quite a few points to catch up with me. By the way, the three best shooters were awarded interesting and necessary prizes. For example, I got a camping bowler hat and a patriotic magazine.

“It is important that the hand-to-hand combatant understand what kind of “weapon” he wields...”

After the training, Andrey Leonidovich and I had a conversation about the problems of today's youth and how to solve them.

- Andrei Leonidovich, you have always positioned the goal of the Russian Hand-to-Hand Combat Center as the spiritual and moral education of youth. How do you manage to combine morality, on the one hand, and such a tough type of activity as hand-to-hand combat, on the other?

- Any military business requires from the person who deals with it, responsibility and great work. For us, hand-to-hand combat is not a combat sport, the task of which is to understand whether you are strong, agile or fast. For us, hand-to-hand combat is a means by which we are engaged in education and development.

When you practice hand-to-hand combat, you begin to understand that the same laws that apply in close combat are very similar when interacting with an enemy, for example, in a city or in a forest. So, we strive to ensure that a person, doing military affairs, doing martial arts, hand-to-hand combat, realizes the full responsibility for his actions. Becoming a person who can both protect and cause serious harm to the health of another, it is important that the melee understand what weapon he owns, what tool he receives. Also, it is necessary that the hand-to-hand fighter has a definite, clear goal of his studies.

An Orthodox Christian must remember the words of Jesus Christ: "Without me you cannot do anything." When a person begins to engage in our business, he begins to realize that the Lord gives all victories. We need victories not only on the battlefield and in battles, but also in eradicating evil in ourselves. We cannot achieve all this without the help of God.

Why is spiritual and moral development so important for us, mentors of the Center? We believe that only a spiritually and morally developed person - a loving, believing, responsible, understanding person - can live a worthy life and hope to be in the Kingdom of Heaven. We want those people who train with us, at the Suvorov Russian Hand-to-Hand Fighting Center, to be spiritually oriented with the help of classes: so that they go to God, call on Him in everything good and good. To be useful: to serve their neighbors, serve the Fatherland, thus serve God - so that they are ready even to give their lives for their neighbor . .. As Suvorov said: "Die yourself, but help out your comrade." And as the Savior says: "There is no higher (greater) love than one who has his soul and his friend."

- Our society is not in the best condition now. Moreover, this affects both the spiritual nature of people and the physical. Unfortunately, this also affects young people.

- I think that young people who have fallen under the influence of the pernicious tendencies of society are "unloved" children. How does a modern family live? From morning to evening we are late somewhere, somewhere we are in a hurry all the time. We constantly do not have time - all life is spent on the road, on business. On weekends we go to supermarkets, clean houses, go on a visit… But at the same time, we don’t talk much with children. And it is so important to pay attention to the child! Our child should be more important than the store or the cleanliness of the house.

I see that children are not getting enough contact with their parents. What is communication with parents? This is a transmission of all that good, bright and kind that a father and mother can share with a child. Alas, when we find ourselves alone with a child, sometimes we turn on cartoons for him and go about our business. We seem to be in the same apartment, but we don’t communicate with him! And if the child and I played, went somewhere, did something together, taught him something, showed him what is good and what is bad, then this connection would not only give the child incredibly more, but also and help him in the future. There will be a connection with the parent - and the child will be well oriented, it will be better to perceive the good and reject the bad.

And those children who come to us are, for the most part, those who reach out to adults. Apparently, they do not have enough communication in their families. They are drawn to us because they want to see an approving look, to hear a good word. They want someone to talk to them, to ask them something. Even when you give some tasks, you understand what the child usually does. For example, when you talk about computer games, you can immediately see that he is very well versed in this matter. But when you start a conversation about simple things related to the general outlook, you sadly notice that the child, corny, does not read books: he, in general, is not developed for his age. This suggests that after attending school, he is left to himself. He does something at home, but not what adults would like. This is our common problem.

Why do we have so many troubles? Yes, because many children were "unloved" and undereducated. Now we see arrogance on the roads and disrespect for each other. We are faced with a disregard for our neighbor, for the Motherland. We see a misunderstanding of simple, obvious things. A person begins to live exclusively for himself and puts himself, his "I" in the center. We forget about God and our destiny, we forget about God's law and common sense - we live as we want. We live for our belly, for a car, an apartment, a dacha.

- What ways out of the current situation do you see and which of them did you manage to implement during the existence of the Center?

- I think that one of the main achievements that we have succeeded in is that in some families, ties between fathers, mothers and children have been established. We realized that many parents turned to their children, became closer to them, and the children, in turn, to their parents.

People - all of us - just need to understand what will happen next. Imagine: our child is left to the computer, cartoons, to himself - what will happen when he grows up? What kind of life will he have, how will he behave, what future awaits him? How will he raise his children, what will he pass on to them, what will he be able to tell, what to teach? He's simply illiterate himself! And when he grows up, his general level - intellectual, cultural, I'm not talking about the spiritual - will not correspond to the normal at all.

Everyone needs to decide what we live for. For example, for a Christian, the goal, in simple terms, is to serve God, serve your neighbor and find yourself in the Kingdom of Heaven with God, with your neighbors. If we all remember this, we will strive to ensure that our child is not in hell, but in paradise. For example, I really want my children to be in the Kingdom of Heaven - like my wife, my comrades in arms, all my students, parents of students, all my neighbors: I would like them to have eternal life.

One must be able to sacrifice one's interests somewhere - to sacrifice, perhaps, even work, in order to pay more attention to the main thing. It is important to decide what is valuable to you and, based on this, build your life path, raise children. They should not be like the dogs that you fed and let out on the street - let them run... time did not learn. To convey both what their father and mother once gave them, and what they gained during their lives. After all, we all, parents, go through difficulties and mistakes.

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