The Importance of Hands-On Learning

“What the hand does, the mind remembers.” – Dr. Maria Montessori

When children can discover with their hands, their discoveries become more significant to them. Because they experience their learning with their hands, the things they learn are much more embedded than any rote memory could be. They take an active role in the process.

Active Learning

At a traditional classroom, you’d probably observe a teacher at the front of the room, near a blackboard or whiteboard, speaking to students who are seated in desks, memorizing facts, or staring at and listening to their teacher.

Concepts like “table groups” and “flexible seating,” which allow children to sit in small groups or pick where they sit, have allowed for some classroom reform in recent years.

Many teachers and administrators have looked to hands-on or nontraditional classroom experiences like “project-based learning,” “design thinking,” “the maker movement,” and “the flipped classroom” for ways to engage children in their learning, in addition to the environment itself.

These changes in education serve as a reminder that education isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition. When we take the time to sit back, examine what we’re doing, and decide to go forward with purpose, we may address individual needs. Do you need some advice on how to make a change? Continue reading!

Making Adjustments

Let us give you one powerful suggestion if you’re not sure where to begin. Begin with the hands of the youngster. If you want to modify your learning habits, start with one small step. Consider the following: Begin by observing the hands. Hands are incredibly intelligent. Exceptionally astute. Like the insides of our skulls. However, it appears that this is frequently overlooked.

Make Use of Your Hands!

Adults appear to believe that it is acceptable for younger children to learn by using their hands. Consider the possibilities: sandboxes, water tables, and play-doh! However, these manipulatives receive a poor rap for being “childish” somewhere along the route.

Why? If you’ve ever seen someone doing something they enjoy, you’ve almost certainly seen them utilizing their hands! You’ve probably seen someone using tools, repairing a vehicle, or playing an instrument. Consider someone flipping a page in a book, digging in the earth while gardening, or preparing a meal.

Why should math, science, history, or languages learning be any different? Add with an abacus, measure velocity when launching a marshmallow with a spoon, tea-dye a map, or work with rhymed pairs of objects. Using your hands, whether in official or informal instruction, is beneficial!

In the Classroom

Dr. Maria Montessori was a scientist who spent time watching youngsters in the Montessori classroom. As a result, she recognized that youngsters desired real-world, hands-on learning experiences. They not only desired it, but they also found it enjoyable to use their hands.

Montessori created items for children to use through experimentation and careful calculation. These classes are designed to encourage self-discovery while still achieving learning objectives. The observations she made at the time are still valid over a century later. Children like and benefit from using their hands to study regardless of topic matter.

Hands-on learning is evident throughout a Montessori classroom. A child scrubbing a table is teaching environmental stewardship while simultaneously training their hand muscles for writing operations.

Placing cubes on top of one another in the pink tower teaches youngsters to move with accuracy while also allowing their bodies to physically experience the difference in one cubic centimeter ten times over! Not only that, but it also teaches the fundamentals of the base ten system of mathematics. In a Montessori classroom, a lesson is rarely delivered for a single reason, and the hands-on learning frequently leads to numerous purposes over time.

A Customized Adventure

Learning isn’t a competition with a winner. It’s a never-ending journey through a variety of experiences that require varied paths and supplies.

Whether Montessori is your inspiration, you want to improve learning for your students, or you simply enjoy getting your hands dirty, don’t put it off! The rest of the world is waiting for you. Explore! Take a look!

For more reading, visit the link below:

https://ageofmontessori.org/thepowerofhandsonlearning/