Technology today has become the new normal for children. Their dependency on these devices in terms of both their personal and professional life is rapidly increasing. Internet addiction is a real phenomenon and has gained significant importance in recent times. Even though this is a topic of concern, it is not too late to divert our children’s attention in more productive directions. 

Both parents and teachers indeed have a big role to play in this phenomenon of internet addiction. Now that this issue has grown multi-folds, the next step is to move on to possible solutions and implement them in all children’s lives at the earliest. While we cannot eradicate the use of technology, we can come forward and suggest alternatives to this problem. We need to implement a solution that does not work long term but is also useful, beneficial, and the best utilization of our children’s time. 

Currently, and in the future, we suggest the best solution to the excessive use of technology is to replace it with experiential and hands-on learning. Here are a few reasons that will better help you understand the importance of experiential learning in today’s time – 

Effective Learning without Compromising on Health 

Excessive use of technology strains the eyes and makes the children extremely lazy, ultimately leading to a lack of physical exercise. Experiential learning is a better solution since most of its activities require the kids to be active and alert. It not only increases their knowledge but also challenges them to rack their brains and find answers to questions they never thought possible

Development of Important Skills 

Experiential learning facilitates the learning and polishing of skills that will come in handy even outside the educational institutions. Hands-on activities prepare students for the real world and help them understand the theory implementation in practical situations. Effective Communication, Analytical Skills, Problem Solving, Teamwork, and Decision Making are some qualities experiential learning helps develop.

Engaging and Interesting 

When you initially introduce the concept of experiential learning, children may outright say no to the idea of using their free time at home to study and learn. However, their attitude may change once they indulge in hands-on activities. What you as a parent can do, is ask them questions, allow them to be inquisitive, and introduce the concept of “do it yourself”. It will not only interest them but will also instantly grab their attention. 

Building Relationships 

Experiential learning requires teamwork and coordination. You can indulge in these activities with your child and spend more time with them. Instead of being in their room, busy with electronic devices all the time, these hands-on activities can also be performed outdoors and help create effective bonds. 

Augmented technology does not just have negative implications. Technology has grown tremendously in the last few years and continues to help children in their daily life. However, it is also important to be aware of the consequences of excessive use of technology and understand how important it is to maintain a balance. Moreover, we fully understand that children cannot sit in front of a book and mug up theory all the time. What they need is something they can work, something they can create, something of real value. Here is where experiential learning comes to play and aims to make a significant change in the lifestyle of all children. 

We hope this article achieved its goal of informing you about the increasing importance of experiential learning and how it is the perfect way to rid your child of technology and its addiction. If this information helped in any way, stay tuned for our next article on activities that you can engage your children in, all from the comfort of your own house! 

At ExperiHub, we teach Science and Mathematics by bringing concepts from the real world into the classroom. We conduct science experiments and have myriad science projects for better learning and understanding of concepts. If you want to learn more about Experiential Learning and cool home experiments, browse through our Online Sessions and Youtube Channel!

Seven Different Learning Styles

1. Visual: Representing information spatially through pictures, models, or colors.
2. Kinaesthetic: Doing things physically and following a hands-on approach.
3. Aural: Retaining information after hearing it.
4. Verbal: Understanding through words such as acronyms, tongue twisters, or rhymes.
5. Logical: Using numbers, calculations, or structure.
6. Social: Participating in study groups and testing one another.
7. Solitary: Studying alone, making flashcards, and reciting back to self.

Multisensory Learning 

“I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand.” 

This old Chinese proverb sheds light upon the importance of our five senses in the process of learning. Seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling help us discover new information. When we use all five senses together to learn, we follow the approach of Multisensory Learning. Students, no matter the age, learn best when mixed with experience. In a report by D.G. Treichler, as cited in the journal “Trends in Cognitive Sciences,” he revealed that “Students remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, and 50% of what they see and hear.” The better they are at combining their senses, the more they can remember what they have learned (Shams & Seitz 2008).

Over the years, an abundance of research tells us that parts of our brains communicate with each other. Micah Murray, an Associate Professor at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, illustrates this with an example of speech. When you hear another person speaking in your native language, you do not need to watch it being spoken to understand. However, if you are not comfortable with the language, you tend to look at the speaker’s mouth to understand the words. Two of our senses work together to help us understand and learn (Gordon, n.d.).

Two second-grade teachers had a difficult time teaching science to their students. They believed it was tough to teach science at such a young age. They came up with a solution: To teach them about the different properties of matter, they decided to do a small science experiment. They collected items that resembled solids, liquids, and gases. Students then had to place each item under each category. To their surprise, students took their turns and correctly categorized their selected items. Through this exercise, the teachers saw an increase in engagement and wanted to learn more about Multisensory Teaching (Stoffers, 2011).

They then came across a study conducted at Rowan University, New Jersey. The study attempted to understand the effect of Multisensory Teaching on students’ academic achievement. Lessons plans targeting multiple senses and team-building activities were implemented for second-grade students. Primary research was collected through focus groups, interviews, and journals. The data revealed that Multisensory Teaching improves student motivation and engagement. The second-grade students used the words “fun” and “exciting” when describing the multisensory classroom. Through this approach, the use of technology and making connections was also taught in the right manner. One fascinating insight came out of this study: Using a learning approach that incorporates all five senses encourages students who have been silent within traditional classroom settings. It helped shy students become more interested in the classroom and show their enthusiasm (Stoffers, 2011).

Connection With Experiential Learning 

Compared to Multisensory Learning, Experiential Learning also follows a similar process of using hands-on learning and science experiments to help students reflect on what is being taught. Learning theory that uses real-world examples incorporates our senses. At ExperiHub, we believe that imparting education through Experiential Learning raises students’ scientific curiosity. We conduct science projects for better learning that activates the brain to develop the necessary skills needed to grasp concepts better. To learn more about Experiential Learning, please feel free to go through our Online Sessions and Workshops. Let us make learning fun with cool home experiments!

For  science related videos : https://www.youtube.com/c/ExperiHub?sub_confirmation=1

References: 

Shams, Ladan, and Aaron R. Seitz. “Benefits of Multisensory Learning.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences, vol. 12, no. 11, 2008, pp. 411–417., doi:10.1016/j.tics.2008.07.006.

Stoffers, Melissa. pp. 1–97, Using a Multi-Sensory Teaching Approach to Impact Learning and Community in a Second Grade Classroom.

“What Are The 7 Different Learning Styles And Do They Work?” Avado, 16 Apr. 2020, www.avadolearning.com/blog/the-7-different-learning-styles-and-what-they-mean/.

Experiential learning is not new in India and has been around since ancient times as the gurukul system where students engaged in different activities to learn academic topics. However, over the years, the Indian education system has not carried out the same ideals.

On the contrary, it has mastered the rigid process of examinations with little variation. We need to move towards teaching pedagogy based on experiential learningand conduct science projects for students, which will give them access to education by bringing the outside world into the classroom.

With coronavirus breaking our perception of “normal,” the unforeseen pandemic brings the potential to remodel the Indian education system towards modernization. Given the period we have spent in lockdown, education efforts plunged into the territory of online learning. Learning in schools are shifting from information-focused education to experiential learning with a greater reliance on technology.

Elements once considered constitutional are changing towards accommodating career and life skills for the future, such as emotional intelligence, creativity, communication, and collaboration, with technology being the key to holding it all together. With this, education is becoming more accessible and flexible.

More importantly, nowadays, school children are Generation Z, a generation heavily dependent on technology and majorly impacted by the pandemic. To further empower these children, education systems post-COVID must slowly move towards digital education.

In the face of a crippling pandemic, sitting at home, staring in front of a computer screen, and reading notes is not the best possible way to wake up our brain cells. Hands-on learning and cool home experiments cut out the monotony of being locked inside and give students a medium to brush up on their creative skills and keep their minds active.

Experiential learning will be advantageous as attending in-person classes is not possible. Teachers will guide students from time to time, but students will be the ones performing the practical experiments to gain academic knowledge.

In addition, rigid question-answer examinations are not always the best way to evaluate each student. As each individual displays different academic strengths, tests should be decentralized, and educational institutions and teachers should frame syllabi based on their own experiences and teaching styles. In the time of a global pandemic, a centralized education system will not be fruitful to every student.

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I hear and I forget,

I see and I remember,

I do and I understand.

By the age of one, we all have the painful encounter with the experiential learning when we tried to walk, failed, fell and cried. And even though it was an unpleasant and discouraging exercise, in the end we all made it. Experience of a person develops from its childhood. They learn to speak their mother tongue from what they hear. They learn to walk by the steps they take in their infancy. Such basic needs are intact to a person from the experience they gain. Therefore, it is vital to make modern education on an experiential basis.

Experiential learning literally means learning that involves experience or observation or both. Through every passing year the ideology of learning keeps on changing, keeping in mind the requirement of the time. The biggest impact of learning style is often observed on children, as it moulds them accordingly for the future. Hence the most appropriate learning method is the one that is not only equipped with the tools of the present but also provides opportunities to adapt in the future. And the current requirements list has skills as well as the technique on its priority and both of them can only be derived from experience and observation. 

Consider a situation in which one teacher asks a class of first or second standard “What is the quotient and remainder after you divide 12 by 5?”. And another teacher asks “If you have 12 rupees and you have to buy candies out of it of 5 rupees each. How many candies will you be able to buy and how much money will you be left with?”. In which case the class will grasp the concept faster. You can see the difference and so the studies say that Retaining knowledge becomes faster. The knowledge which is gained from the books are theoretical however to make it etched in the minds of the students experience of the read knowledge is required. To take it to a more realistic level, modern technique of machine learning namely Generative adversarial network is based on learning from previous experience. 

Fundamentally, an  idea of learning from experience caters to the ability of humans to learn from its failure. Apart from inculcating in modern education, experiential learning provides moral assistance. A human learns more easily when he does the task. We all remember sitting at the last benches and daydreaming about the weekend plans while the history teacher telling us about our vast, proud history or a chemistry teacher teaching us various reactions. What a great opportunity it would be for a person to study history in a museum or Chemistry in a laboratory i.e., seeing it, not just reading it. Experience never fades rather it piles up each day and helps the child to proceed toward its goal.

With the rise in ratio of qualified individuals, the race in future is expected to become tougher along with more sprinters and narrower tracks. Every year a humongous number of young minds graduate from institutions all over the world. But quite opposite to the ideal conditions of all of them transforming into a workforce. We experience a surge in unemployment. The sole reason behind this is the uneven score of these people on the scale of skills and real time based knowledge. For instance, if a pottery student has only seen someone doing pottery or in the worst case has just read about, the pots that he will produce are unlikely to have a smooth finish or the strength that the vessel must possess. This makes it very clear that knowledge without experience and skill can do good to none.

In addition to this the experience and observation of learning can awaken passion for it or even a realization of whether you really want to pursue learning in that field. Experiential learning is the window from which you can look at the world and future ahead with the perspective of that knowledge. In short, experiential learning will aid children to have foresight and not be myopic in any aspect. 

Way back, even Aristotle told that,

“ For the things we have to learn 

before we do them, 

We learn by doing them.”

SALUTATIONS !!!

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