Hands-on learning a hands-down success

Hands-on activities, such as building an erupting volcano in science class, are getting good grades from students and teachers. A newly released study shows that these types of activities actually help elementary school students learn better.

The Academic Value of Hands-on Craft Projects in Elementary Schools, one of the first studies ever to investigate the impact of hands-on projects and academic learning, concludes that many elementary school educators have found hands-on crafts projects one of the best techniques for enabling students to sustain knowledge while instilling a curiosity for and appreciation of learning.

"This study confirms what many teachers have believed for years-student learning improves when classroom lessons incorporate hands-on craft activities," said Pat Koziol, Executive Director of Hobby Industry Association (HIA), which commissioned the study. "Crafting has long been known as having emotional benefits and this study’s results show that it provides solid educational benefits as well."

The study analyzed data collected from teachers and students in 76 K-6 grade classes in public and private schools in urban, suburban and rural settings. Teachers were surveyed and tested with specially designed knowledge application tasks to gauge learning.

Some of the key findings are:

1. Almost three-fourths (72 percent) of the teachers indicated that they explicitly and intentionally link their instructional units involving hands-on projects to state or national curriculum standards.

2. Students who spent a greater proportion of their classroom learning time engaged in hands-on projects scored significantly higher on writing and drawing knowledge application tasks designed for the study.

3. Students develop greater curiosity about the subject matter when hands-on projects are incorporated.

4. Teachers say learning through hands-on projects is particularly well suited for students who learned more effectively in non-traditional approaches and for slow readers or writers, or non-native English speakers.

5. Student behavior and socialization skills, including cooperation and confidence, improve when hands-on projects are undertaken.

For a full report on the study visit www.hobby.org.

The above provided courtesy of the North American Precis Syndicate.