When it comes to focusing on one thing, our attention spans are limited. The size of the attention span varies from person to person and from thing to thing. Young children have naturally short attention spans, so when promoting their learning, the focus is on how we can make lessons engaging and challenging. If it can be done, the results are naturally very interesting. Fun is a by-product of an active mind.
In this article, I share some tips that you can use in the classroom or at home, hoping to make some otherwise less engaging exercises more engaging. These techniques can be adapted and applied to learners of different ages – as I just said, we all have our limitations, and these techniques can also make everyone’s study time more efficient
1) Gamification
One of the most effective techniques is to turn practice into a game. In class, students can earn points for each novel idea or project that collects new vocabulary; dictation exercises can be changed to running dictation exercises; learning synonyms can be supplemented by matching memory games… The scope of gamification is very wide – as long as With clear learning objectives, almost any exercise can attempt to make such changes. It is important to have achievable learning goals. Our brains love to get us over the finish line and give us dopamine rewards when we complete challenges. It’s worth noting that these should be individual achievement awards that each student can receive individually. While friendly competition can be enjoyable, it’s still important to give every student a sense of success.
Let me further illustrate that gamification has a significant impact on people’s behavior and habits through countless smartphone apps and countless different learning tools. Take the recently very popular Duolingo app for helping people learn new languages. Inside, players can earn experience points as they learn grammar topics and new vocabulary areas. There are also personal fitness apps that provide users with stats and segments, compare their most recent workouts to previous ones, and provide users with a numerical leaderboard. Strava is one such app, and I use it myself on my bike for years without realizing it. Some personal finance apps even let people see a virtual piggy bank full, making saving an attractive activity.
2) Representation
Another useful approach is to make abstract concepts concrete by turning them into recognizable features. A memorable example from my childhood was the Letterland series of books, which, to help children learn the letters of the alphabet, turned each letter into a familiar animal or thing that started with that letter.
Another great example is Seven Springs Education’s own Bugbug mascot. By following an identifiable character, students are exposed to various forms of learning themes through fiction and non-fiction about him, in the company of this trusted friend.
3) Interactivity
While different people have their own set of confident learning strategies, one thing is for sure – engaging and exploring topics is one of the most effective ways to acquire and retain knowledge. Younger students can use models; older students can flash cards, which are all useful ways. Others may like to pin the portraits and string them together to show the web of characters in Shakespeare’s plays. Anki decks have always been a useful way for people to learn and test themselves.
Whether it’s poring over physical objects, manipulating online models, or studying mathematical formulas, hands-on problem solving is a surefire way to make rapid progress.
We’re excited to bring some of the above elements to the classroom, both in-person and online, here are some useful links to get started with interactive learning:
Educandy is a word-learning site that you can turn into an interactive character-filling game by entering word lists, pairs or groups of words.
Baamboozle is another site for creating interactive quizzes and games with incredible flexibility that makes it easy to create new and exciting content.
Kahoot is another site for creating colorful and fun-filled multiplayer quizzes.