Hands-on Learning in ECE Classrooms

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Encouraging Knowledge Retention Through Automatic, Manual Learning

I have taught many ECE courses over the years. Others did not include learning through reading because the curriculum had to be tailored to the needs of individual students and national guidelines. However, I found that the children in my second grade class were really eager to learn when I gave them the freedom to use active reading sessions.

I once taught a lesson on the difference between the past, present and future. One of my students started playing with something under his desk. It didn’t bother anyone, so I decided not to say anything to him until after my lesson. When I asked him what he was doing, he pulled out a 3D paper model of the past, present, and future sign. It looked like the ones you see on the side of the road!

I was so proud of that student that I was relieved and did not say anything to him while I was teaching. He could tell the difference and interpret with familiar symbols. It’s a great metaphor for how we should allow things to happen automatically when we can or should.

The Importance of Automatic, Hands-On Learning

Teachers should not underestimate the importance of spontaneous learning sessions. This is where the magic happens for many students, especially those who learn differently. The researchers found that parents and teachers think that manual learning is bad [1] rather than visual learning because of societal myths about styles that predict a student’s “best” learning style. Different students have different learning styles.

It is very important to include teachable moments in the school day whenever possible, given how many children are neurodivergent. Experts estimate that over 6.1 million children have ADHD and between 5% and 20% of children have dyslexia. Children who benefit from a variety of teaching methods will gain more confidence in classrooms that provide them with opportunities to learn in those ways.

Useful Tools for ECE Teachers

While you can’t always organize teachable moments and continuous learning opportunities, you can use ideas that are already being used in ECE classrooms around the world. The results improve the learning ability of each student and promote social-emotional support systems that children may not develop in classrooms with traditional teaching structures.

Lessons taught in an ECE classroom can include activities like the one my former student developed—making models of individual subjects using paper, clay, or other art materials. Students can even act out what they are learning through hands-on activities to further integrate the lesson with their creativity and concentration.

Engaging students in role-playing opportunities helps them retain more information [2] because they actively connect the dots, solve problems, and make memories. It’s one way to use hands-on teaching tools, regardless of what your classroom supplies.

“Spontaneous, hands-on learning can be especially useful for formative assessment in young children,” says Jodi Abell-Clarke, MA, MS, PhD, author of the book. Reaching and Educating Neurodivergent Students in STEM. “By allowing students opportunities to be creative, organized, and persistent in a verbal or hands-on problem, teachers may uncover these skills and abilities in their neurodivergent students that might otherwise be hidden by the constraints of regular school activities.”

Strategies and Practices Teachers Can Use

Make hands-on learning a part of your daily routine within your ECE curriculum by learning from other teachers. There are always creative solutions to help children learn in ways that their unique minds need.

“My classrooms have a variety of sensory aids to help children differentiate and integrate the five senses,” said Dr. Jenny Woo, Harvard-trained teacher, former Montessori Preschool Director, and founder/CEO of Mind Brain Emotion. “Kids can choose activities such as arranging different colors using color pills, ringing bells to see the difference in sounds, and hearing different chalkboards. We also include useful everyday items such as loose flowers and vases to encourage children to engage their five senses and express their creativity through flower arranging.”

Teacher Amy Blessing wrote to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) to explain how her students learned about hibernating black bears by building small dens in branches. [3]. They made blueberries out of art paper and used pretend stethoscopes to study the bears’ anatomy with a stuffed toy.

These teachable moments in the ECE classroom are valuable for children at all levels of early education. Blessing’s students almost never forgot their bear lesson because they were so enthusiastically involved. Instead of listening to a 15-minute lecture that won’t help children with ADHD, young learners should use their imaginations.

Creating Automated Play-Based Educational Environments

When planning purposeful teachable moments, remember that planning is key. Students need academic study, in addition to practical activities, to gain knowledge that will help their education.

“The ideal environment for hands-on learning, authentic learning consists of open, varied, and accessible materials for all children, where teachers teach lessons that support children’s curiosity and encourage and answer children’s questions and ideas,” said Dr. . Johnna Weller, Chief Education Officer at the Learning Care Group. “For example, in a preschool setting, children realized that they needed more space to store their work-in-progress when they wanted to ‘save’ their creations and return to them. Teachers in the classroom nurtured the children’s questions by inviting them to create inventions that would solve that need.”

The children practiced listening and learning from each other. As you consider the value of spontaneous moments, think about how students use play for more than just entertainment. It makes life fun while turning each child’s education into an exciting opportunity.

“As an early childhood educator, I strongly believe in a play-based curriculum since play is an activity for young children. Early childhood classrooms promote emotional, cognitive, and physical development through play as a way to explore math, science, social studies, art, and reading,” said Dr. Norline Wild, Assistant Professor of Education. “One of my favorite things to do with my hands is to create volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar. It’s important that they are given the agency to do this themselves rather than watching an adult.”