Overall development happens not just by studying in the classroom, but learning beyond it, is very crucial. Today’s students have more access to information and resources beyond the classroom than any prior generation.
They can jump online and watch a video tutorial to learn how to do something that interests them.
Benefits of Learning Beyond the Classroom?
Education has become one of our major concerns, at the heart of any strategy for prosperity and social cohesion. But young people are having more difficulty than ever before in adapting to the world they will enter as adults.
New level of understanding:
Learning beyond the classroom takes a child out of the educational “closet” – so to speak – and places them directly into the “real” world. Students have been found to better grasp skills and concepts that are presented to them directly and in context. When children are “hands on,” it allows them to reach an entirely new level of understanding.
Improve creativity:
A child is very curious to learn new things. Learning beyond the classroom will enhance and feed the child’s creativity. This way outside learning improves the creativity of the child.
Experimentation and exposure:
Unlike conventional teaching methods, students are more involved in real life learning activities when they practice outside learning. They are able to observe, think critically and experiment. As active learners, even when they are no longer students, they will carry onward a culture of learning to their profession and daily lives.
Life skills:
With hands-on methods for teaching, students have their intellectual capacity widened, enabling them to make life-applications of the things they learn. This kind of learning environment fosters innovative thinking and the emergence of new solutions for our world.
Social Skill in times of Covid-19
Due to Covid-19 students are not able to go out to meet their friends. A very important activity of meeting friends and playing is getting disrupted. With this description is the most important aspect of it that is the development of social skills is also getting interrupted. But, still development of social skills is possible, Thanks to the online meeting platforms.
The platforms which students used for attending online classes can also be used for learning beyond the classroom and developing social skills.
Teaching and learning experiences that take place outside of the confines of the classroom walls have a range of benefits for both students and instructors. When students are asked to put into practice “in the real world” what they have theorized about from behind a desk, the result is a student-centric learning experience that enhances learning and fosters personal and social development.
Experiential Learning
Learning experiences outside the classroom are forms of experiential learning. These experiences are rooted in the simple principle that “experience is the best teacher.” Under this framework, learning outside of the classroom is an active process, wherein students encounter various problems, construct novel hypotheses, test for real solutions, and interact with others to make sense of the world around them. When this is done, we encounter the world as a whole and are forced to engage multiple modalities, no matter which pair of disciplinary “lenses” we intend to wear. Because experiential learning is inherently interdisciplinary, scientists and humanists alike would do well to consider the ways in which other disciplines might enrich their own disciplinary approach to their field.
Ways To Practice Learning Beyond The Classroom During COVID-19
- Let the kids have discussion and interactive sessions with their friends.
- Make the kids learn what they like. Help them to learn their favorite activity.
- play traditional games with them in which some activities are involved. No online games.
- Have video calls with your family members who stay far away. This will also help kids to develop various life and social skills.
- Get out a bunch of character toys, like Peppa Pig or Barbie dolls, and have them pretend to talk to each other. Maybe you have a toy kitchen and your characters can pretend to bake a cake and have a pretend birthday party together.
- While playing board games is probably the most obvious way to practice and encourage social skills, it’s really because it’s the best bang for your buck. “Playing a game requires patience, being able to wait and take turns, negotiation about who goes first (or what character piece or color you are), agreeing to and sticking to the rules, and being a good sport whether you win or lose.”
Ways To Practice Learning Beyond The Classroom Post COVID-19
- Field trips- Field trips can take a variety of forms that meet a diverse set of needs and can enhance deep, active learning. This will focus on several areas like- Developing social and personal skills, Developing observation and perception skills, Adding relevance and meaning to learning.
- Morning time- It is recommended by most of the experts that mornings are better for intellectual topics, afternoons are better for hands-on activities, and evenings are best for reflection and interpersonal discussions.
- Open ended learning-This simply means that while learning interactive session should take place in which the students are free to ask the questions according to their curiosity. The learning session should be full of discussions and it should not be one sided.
Also published on Medium.