Most teachers care about the results of their students. There is no doubt that educators influence how well their children do in school. However, if you look at thousands of studies on this topic, it is clear that some learning strategies have a much greater impact than others. What is effective learning? What are its methods, means, forms and techniques?
Clear lesson objectives
Strategies for effective evidence-based learning include:
- Goals. What you want students to learn in each lesson is critical. Clear lesson objectives help you and your students focus on every aspect of your lesson, on what matters most.
- Show and tell. As a general rule, you should start your lessons with some sort of show, performance, and story. Simply put, the story involves the exchangeinformation or knowledge with your students. Once you have clearly communicated what you want your students to know and be able to tell by the end of the lesson, you should tell them what they need to know and show them how to solve the problems you want them to they were able to decide. You don't want to spend your entire lesson making sure the kids listen to you, so focus on your show and tell what matters most.
Questions to test understanding
Teachers usually spend a lot of class time asking questions. However, few teachers use questions to test comprehension in class. But you should always check for understanding before moving on to the next part of your lesson. Effective learning methods such as whiteboard answering, face-to-face interviews and "tell a friend" will help test understanding before moving on from the show to the next part of the lesson.
Plenty of practice
Practice helps students retain the knowledge and skills they have acquired, and gives you another opportunity to test your understanding of what you have learned. Your students should practice what they learned during your presentation, which in turn should reflect the purpose of the lesson. Practice is not meaningless employment in the classroom. An effective form of teaching involves solving certain problems that have already been previously modeled. Students absorb information better when their teacher makes them practice the same things for a certain period of time.time span.
Using effective teaching aids
This includes mind maps, flow charts, and Venn diagrams. You can use them to help students summarize what they have learned and understand the relationship between aspects of what you have taught them. Discussing a graphic summary is a good way to end your show and pre-story. You can refer to it again at the end of the lesson.
Feedback
This is the "breakfast of champions" and is used by the world's best educators. Simply put, feedback involves seeing how students have completed a particular task together in ways that will help them improve. Unlike praise, which focuses on the student rather than the task, feedback provides a tangible understanding of what they did well, where they are, and how they can improve their performance.
Flexibility
This is another effective teaching method. Be flexible about how long it takes to study. The idea that, given enough time, every student can learn effectively is not as revolutionary as it sounds. This is at the core of how we teach martial arts, swimming and dancing.
When you master the art of learning, you differentiate yourself differently. You keep your learning goals the same but change the time you give each child to succeed. Within the constraints of a crowded curriculum, this may be easier said than done, but we can all do it.it is to some extent.
Group work
The most effective learning methods involve group work. This method is not new and can be seen in every class. However, productive group work is rare. When working in groups, students tend to rely on the person who appears to be the most competent and capable of the task at hand. Psychologists call this phenomenon social idleness.
To increase the productivity of teams, it is necessary to choose the tasks that are assigned to them and the individual roles that each member of the group plays. You should only ask the groups to perform tasks that all members of the group can successfully perform. You must also ensure that each member of the group is personally responsible for one step in the task.
Learning strategies
Effective learning systems include a variety of strategies. It is important not only to teach the content, but also how to use the appropriate strategies. When teaching children to read, you need to teach them how to memorize unknown words, as well as strategies that will deepen their understanding. When teaching math, you must teach them problem solving strategies. There are strategies that underpin the effective completion of many of the tasks you ask students to do in school. And you need to educate students about these strategies, show them how to use them, and give them guided practice before asking them to use them themselves.
Educating metacognition
Many teachers find that they encourage students to use metacognition when they simply ask students to use effective learning strategies such as making connections when reading or self-verbalizing when solving problems. Encouragement to use strategies is important, but it is not metacognition.
Metacognition involves thinking about your options, your choices, and your outcomes, and this has an even greater impact on outcomes than the learning strategies themselves. Students may consider how effective a form of learning they would choose for themselves after reflecting on their success or lack thereof, before continuing or changing their chosen strategy. When using metacognition, it is important to think about which strategies to use before choosing one.
Conditions for a highly effective educational process
During the educational process, conditions for effective learning should be created.
- Think about the relationship between teacher and student. This interaction has a big impact on learning as well as on the "climate in the classroom". It is important to create a classroom environment that "constantly asks for more" while affirming students' self-esteem. Success must be attributed to effort, not ability.
- Behavior management plays an important role. It might seem that this is not as important as knowledge of the subject and learning in the classroom, but behavior is a powerful factor contributing to the success of a teacher. But class management - includinghow well the teacher uses class time, coordinates class resources, and manages behavior is noted as critical to effective learning.
- Correct relationships with colleagues and parents. A teacher's professional conduct, including supporting peers and communicating with parents, also has a moderate impact on effective student learning.
What can teachers do to improve their skills?
What do teachers need to grow professionally? Keep track of your successful peers, just sit back and watch respected and dedicated employees practice their craft. Teaching can become an isolating profession if we allow it to be, and getting into other people's classes breaks down those walls and helps teachers grow in the process. Use technology to see others in action. Not only will you be able to select specific tips to improve your skills - organizing work, making homework more efficient, etc., but you will also be able to connect with colleagues that you might not otherwise have.
Listen to those who see you every day. The irony in evaluating a teacher's work is that we don't suggest listening to those who see it the most - the students. Giving children the opportunity to share their thoughts about your practice and its effectiveness requires a high level of trust in them and great comfort in your ability to receive feedback. However, this feedback maybe very valuable.
One effective learning tool is the open-ended question at the end of the test, where students can comment on how well the teacher helped them learn the material. Going beyond the curriculum is a habit of the best teachers. Be sure to research your topic broadly and try to consistently look for ways to bring new information into your practice.
Organization of effective learning: methods and mechanisms
To survive and thrive, you need to be organized and disciplined. Effective teaching of high school children and university students is carried out using three approaches to teaching:
1. Lectures. They are organized for the whole class and determine the content and scope of the material taught. They do not necessarily teach everything there is to know, but provide a foundation for further exploration of topics through other forms of learning (practical work, supervision) and through independent reading. At the same time, it is important to visit and interact with the information provided. One must be prepared to take notes from the main points and determine which areas of the lecture are less clear so as to be considered later. Most lecturers provide some form of handout. The handouts are not meant to replace the lecture, but are provided to give you a "breather" to engage more closely with the lecture.
2. Practice. Practical work, as a rule, serves to illustrate the topic from lectures and transfer skills,necessary for the application of these concepts in a practical or experimental form. All hands-on work should be approached with a positive attitude and strive to learn from examples or experiments.
3. Supervisions are small group training sessions that are a unique learning opportunity. This is a good chance to clear up any confusing points from lectures or practice sessions and a good way to evaluate understanding and progress.
High performance grade specifications
There are some sort of criteria to measure how productively you use effective learning tools. So here are the characteristics of a highly effective learning environment:
1. Students ask good questions.
This is not a good result, but it is very important for the whole learning process. The role of curiosity has been studied (and perhaps under-researched and underestimated). Many teachers force students to ask questions at the beginning of the lesson, often to no avail. Cliché questions that reflect a lack of understanding of the content can hinder further skill acquisition. But the fact remains that if kids can't ask questions, even in elementary school, there's something wrong. Often good questions can be more important than answers.
2. Ideas come from various sources.
Ideas for lessons, readings, tests and projects should come from a variety of sources. If they all come from narrow slivers of resources, you run the risk of being stuck in one direction. This isit may be good or not so good. Alternative? Consider sources such as professional and cultural mentors, the community, subject matter experts outside of education, and even learners themselves.
3. Various models and techniques for effective learning are used.
Inquiry based learning, project based learning, direct learning, peer learning, school learning, e-learning, mobile, flipped classroom - the possibilities are endless. Chances are none of them are incredible enough to satisfy every element of the content, curriculum, and student diversity in your class. The hallmark of a high-performing classroom is diversity, which also has the side effect of improving your long-term ability as an educator.
4. Training is personalized according to various criteria.
Personalized learning is probably the future of education, but for now, the burden of routing students lies almost entirely on the shoulders of the classroom teacher. This makes personalization and even consistent differentiation a challenge. One answer is the personalization of learning. By adjusting the tempo, entry points, and strictness accordingly, you'll have a better chance of discovering what students really need.
5. Success criteria are balanced and transparent.
Students shouldn't have to guess what "success" looks like in a high-performing classroom. It also should not be fully weighted by "participation", evaluation results, attitude or other individual factors, butrather, content melted into a cohesive structure that makes sense - not for you, your colleagues, or the expert book on your shelf, but for the students themselves.
6. Learning habits are constantly being modeled.
Cognitive, metacognitive and behavioral "good things" are constantly being modeled. Curiosity, persistence, flexibility, priority, creativity, collaboration, revision, and even classic habits of the mind are all great ideas to start with. Therefore, often what students learn from the people around them is less direct didactic and more indirect and observational.
7. There are constant opportunities to practice.
Old thinking is being revisited. Old errors are reflected further. Complex ideas are rethought from new angles. Divergent concepts are opposed. New and effective teaching technologies are used.
It doesn't matter what, it matters how
The characteristics of effective learning are divided into three groups: play and learning, active learning, creation and critical thinking.
- Playing and learning. Children naturally play and explore in order to satisfy their natural curiosity. They manipulate the environment, test it, and draw their own conclusions without any hidden intention. They react with an open mind to what happens as a result of their experiments. The nature of their learning is always hands-on and children are the authors who shape the experience. They use their knowledge andunderstanding of the world and bring it into their study. Using their imagination and creativity, they improve their understanding and explore their interests. When children play and explore, when they feel motivated to do so, they are also naturally more willing to take risks and try new experiences.
- Active learning. Learning is effective when it is motivated. Then attention and concentration on experience and activity are at their peak level. When children are excited about what they are doing, they become completely absorbed in the activity and focus on its details. They will also be more likely to stay motivated enough to try again if they fail, overcome difficulties and improve their performance. They will do this to achieve their own personal goals, not just the goals of others, which is necessary to sustain their long-term success.
- Creation and critical thinking. Children understand the world when they are free to explore it, when they use their existing knowledge to creatively experiment with their environment, solve problems, and improve their experience. They test their own hypotheses, come up with their own ideas on how to transfer their experience further. Using what they already know, children connect different interdisciplinary concepts and this helps them to predict, find meaning, arrange events and objects in sequence, or develop an understanding of cause and effect. By organizing their experiences in their own way, children learn to approach tasks, plan, change their plans, andstrategies.
For learning to be effective, what matters is not what children learn, but how they learn, and this is something that educators should consider when planning learning environments for their children.
