Today, the emergence of the COVID-19 epidemic has forced schools to teach online and use modern electronic devices; it has become increasingly difficult to attract the attention and concentration of students. As a result, this has sparked a hot topic in the education debate about how to create interest in the classroom so that learning can be most effective.

In the article below, I will point out some characteristics that an enjoyable and effective learning environment should have.

Element #1: The interaction between classmates in the classroom as well as that of teachers and students

Passive learning is very easy for students to become discouraged when they think that teaching is the teacher’s job, and listening to the lecture is up to the students to decide. They will always feel that they are not part of the classroom and do not find a sense of belonging with their classmates and teachers. Therefore, what teachers need to do is to make their students feel like they are involved in the class and are able to express their opinions.

Not only asking questions and asking students to answer, but teachers can also organize group discussions, deploy assignments made in the form of groups. That makes students communicate, chat with classmates more to learn from each other. They will feel that they themselves have played an important role in the creation of the lesson and feel that their opinions are respected. This will make them more excited and happy to contribute ideas and participate in the class.

In addition, doing group exercises can help students experience different positions in a group such as a leader, member, assistant, etc. This helps them improve and enhance their leadership and learn how to work together to achieve the common goal. Working in a group allows students to consider issues from different angles. They are compelled to listen to other people’s opinions when they are obligated to debate a problem and negotiate how to address it. Their own thinking will be influenced by their views, which will extend their horizons. Their group members include not only fellow students but also teachers.

The purpose of group work is to demonstrate how being sociable improves learning. Students must not only listen to other people’s viewpoints, but also compare, contrast, and incorporate them into their own thinking. Perhaps another person’s point of view will persuade them to reconsider their position or expose flaws in their own beliefs. Students can only modify their perspectives through interacting with others.

The goal here is to refine their perspective rather than merely change it. Their teammates aren’t adversaries whose ideas they’re trying to alter. They’re collaborators on a project in which they’re all working together to establish a common knowledge of a topic, and the group’s final, shared viewpoint is sharper, richer, and more dynamic as a consequence of your efforts. Collaborating is a wonderful way to improve their critical thinking abilities and become sharper thinkers.

Element #2: The connection between real life and the knowledge they learned at school

There are many students who feel lost and disoriented after graduating from school when they realize that the knowledge they learn in school rarely applies to real life. Many graduates often share with their juniors that doing well in school is not conducive to future job success. This makes students tend to think that it is not necessary to do well in class when the knowledge being taught is unnecessary and superfluous.

Subsequently, this trend creates a feeling that no one needs to study to be successful and learning is useless for students; they will stop trying to study hard in class or contribute ideas during class hours. This not only makes the atmosphere between students and teachers become tense and bad but also makes it easier for students to get bad grades and directly affects their academic records and college degrees.

As a result, teachers should try to add practical knowledge to their lessons as well as show students how learning that knowledge will help them in the future. Instead of just forcing students to learn through books, teachers can organize field trips to new places, let students visit factories and large companies to learn how to run a business.

Furthermore, teachers can also give students practical exercises such as developing a media plan for a particular company to promote a certain product, and produce and sell a particular product over a period of time. The lessons students learn from practical experiences in the working process are always as valuable as the knowledge in books.

Element #3: Creativity

In some developing countries in the world, education still has many shortcomings when they still keep the traditional teaching of imposing stereotyped standards on students. This has greatly contributed to limiting students’ creativity and making them passive in learning. After being repeatedly rejected or even scolded for being creative, students will get bored with their participation in learning and no longer find it interesting or exciting. They will think that in order to get good grades, they just need to memorize the knowledge from the textbook.

Therefore, when they graduate from university and go to work, they will not be able to meet the creativity requirements of businesses as well as not have skills such as problem-solving skills or critical thinking skills. Encouraging students to be creative not only makes students more motivated to learn when they can do what they love, but it also helps teachers diversify the way they teach and do assignments. Sometimes the assignments teachers get from students will impress them with the creativity of the students. Being creative while learning helps students feel more valued for their work and feel that their opinions and personal preferences are respected.

Although there are many other factors needed to create an effective and enjoyable learning environment for students, I believe the above three factors play an important and indispensable role in the process of transmitting knowledge to students

At Project Sprouts, we realize that we can not solve all the problems of poverty in a situation like this. But we can seek to make a difference in the lives of needy children by giving them school supplies and encouraging them to continue their education; we can give them winter coats, boots, and blankets to help them stay warm during the cold winter months.

Project Sprouts would love to have you be a part of our community and help us help worthy children in North Vietnam. We cannot solve all the world’s problems, but we can do our part to help poor kids grow by giving school supplies, winter coats, boots, and other supplies.

You can find out more about Project Sprouts by clicking here or going to our give now page to donate by clicking here. As we are a grassroots organization, all funds go to help those in need.

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