Activity Based Learning

We will now take a short break from the curriculum to discuss a very powerful way of learning known as Activity-Based Learning or Learning Through Activities. This method is very effective both for a concept-based discipline like mathematics and for teaching students who are still in the “concrete operations” stage. In this approach, a concept or a skill is learned through a designed activity (& learning materials) in which the students participate.

Structure of an activity

Before designing an activity, a particular learning objective is analysed & broken into a series of smaller learning objectives or steps. Each activity aims to teach one of these smaller objectives. It ties to mirror that abstract learning objective through an activity & materials. It should also be simple enough for children to understand and execute. The learning takes place by a combination of participating in the activity, handling the materials and interacting informally with & observing other students.

Any activity can be thought of having 3 parts –

1. one where the child gets an “input” about a number through any one of the representations

2. two where it is expected to demonstrate or “output” its understanding through another representation.

3. The 3rd part is the “mental” processing which would be required before the output is generated from the input. This is the real learning from the activity.

Chapter 4.6 gives a framework for designing any learning activity. It divides the learning into 3 stages – Input, Processing & Output. The learner takes some information (Input), processes it in her mind (Processing) and then conveys her understanding (Output). Let us design one such activity.

Objective - As we have seen in the previous chapter, one of the essential learnings about numbers is that they can be represented in many ways ranging from concrete to abstract. Let us take as one of the smaller learning objectives “Matching the sound representation of a number with the word representation”.

Activity - The activity could be “Teacher calls out a number (oral representation) and the child is expected to pick up a card with the number name written on it (written representation)”.

Preparations - As part of the activity, the teacher has to arrange relevant learning materials on the floor, which the children can pick up. Here the learning materials would be cards with number names on them & collections of daily-use items. She also has to explain the activity to the children.

During the Activity - Children, who do not understand the number called out, can see what other students do and learn. Or they can ask their peers for an explanation. The teacher who is observing the children can make out which children are having difficulty in comprehending or counting out objects.

Cleaning Up – After the activity the children should collect all the cards & materials, sort them and return them to their original places.

Learnings - The learnings from the activity would be several.

1. The child is/ is not able to listen to & recognise the sound of the number word

2. It is/ is not able to understand the number called out

3. It is/ is not able to “observe & locate” another representation of the same number and pick it up &

4. It is/ is not able to understand the instructions for the activity

Modifications of the activity

The above activity can be modified to achieve many other activities.

1. The kind of representations themselves can be varied in difficulty starting from the concrete and proceeding towards the abstract.

2. The difficulty level of the numbers can be increased

3. The difficulty level of the “learning” in the activity can be varied.

   1. Students can pick up 2 numbers in numeral form and show which of them is bigger.

   2. Students can pick up a number and group themselves into “odd” and “even” groups

   3. Students can pick up 2 numbers, find the total and arrange themselves into “Less than Ten” and “More than ten” groups

4. The activity itself can be conducted by students, thereby increasing their confidence and communication skills.

Other Learning Objectives – With some discussions & brain-storming with colleagues, teachers can come out with activities to learn many other learning objectives.

In the next chapter, we will see the advantages of this method.