A brain based classroom is one where students are actively engaged in learning. What exactly does it mean to be engaged? It is not having students taking notes of a lecture, answering questions, or completing worksheets. When students are actively engaged, they’re participating and working in a manner that’s active, energetic, plus they’re involved and intrigued in what’s being learned. Wow!
How to motivate students to learn with interest
This type of learning requires effort and work in order to be meaningful for pupils. If you are looking to getting students engaged or don’t have a textbook that is newer, the tips are for you. Let students create their own game that applies the concepts and/or skills learned for a particular unit.
Take some time to look at games and examine these with your pupils. Look at an instructions written and organized so pupils have a model. How can you personally use Monopoly, Scrabble, Mastermind, or even Taboo on your class? While students may think they are simply playing a game, they are actually applying important skills/concepts learned in a class.
Take full advantage of such learning type
To take full advantage of this learning opportunity, afterwards, let students discuss different skills they have used while playing a game. Without debriefing, students have simply participated in a fun, but meaningless activity. Create a scavenger hunt of hints, phrases, or questions, and have pupils read throughout a chapter to find the answers. It’s more of a studying experience, if answers aren’t instantly visible, especially for older students.
Allowing pupils to work in pairs or groups adds a further element of fun to this activity. Another twist on this action that requires further thinking, is to let them read a chapter first and after that create their own scavenger hunt. Students swap newspapers among themselves and also have a partner to complete their scavenger hunt. Allow student pairs to talk about negative and positive aspects of a scavenger hunt created. Have pupils work in pairs or groups to turn a historic event, a textbook chapter, or a story into a play.