This year we are focusing on developing active learning even further in the Junior School. Active learning is where the pupils become more engaged in the learning process rather than just passively listening to the teacher to gain knowledge.
Active learning is seated in the belief that pupils learn better when they are given the opportunity to interact with others to construct meaning and understanding based on prior learning, knowledge and understanding. It helps them to develop much deeper levels of understanding.
The teacher designs tasks for pupils which give the right amount of challenge, which may need teacher guidance before being tackled independently. Throughout the tasks the teacher provides rich feedback for the pupils to implement, leading to deeper levels of understanding.
How is active learning done in the classroom?
There are several ways that this already happens in the Junior School:
• student-centred, or learner-centred learning, where students play an active role in their learning, with the teacher as an activator of learning, rather than an instructor. For Maths Day pupils designed games for others to play.
• enquiry-based, problem-based or discovery learning, where learners learn by addressing and posing scientific questions, analysing evidence, connecting such evidence to pre-existing theoretical knowledge, drawing conclusions, and reflecting upon their findings.
• experiential learning, which broadly describes someone learning from direct experience. The link below shows our 2018- 2019 Year 5 and 6 pupils perform a dance they had choreographed for Prize Day.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIETkqYn3Hk)
(UCLES September 2017)
What are the benefits of active learning?
We are currently preparing children for a future that we cannot envision and for jobs that don’t yet exist. Active learning plays a huge role in preparing for this. It develops a love of learning through understanding rather than rote learning facts and working page-by-page through a textbook. It provides a problem solving approach which is key to being successful in the future.
Pupils have control over their learning and they begin to think more about how they learn; what works best for them, what skills are needed. They become better equipped for exam preparation as they already have a deep understanding of what they have done so revision really is re-visiting it to remember rather than re-visiting to understand. Pupils also begin to see the usefulness of what they are learning, how it can be connected to real-life situations and how the skills can be adapted for future use.
I’m really excited about what active learning has to offer your children this year; how they will grow and bloom.
Ms. Melanie Wardle
Deputy Head Academic
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