Science Learning in Elementary Classroom

Kids making a ship

The best way to engage kids' brains is by having them move their hands. As students put projects together, create crafts, or use familiar materials in new ways, they're constructing meaning. Or the simple said, hands-on and minds-on learning.

•  Hands-On: Kids are actually allowed to perform science as they construct meaning and acquire understanding.
• Minds-On: Activities focus on core concepts, allowing kids to develop thinking processes and encouraging them to question and seek answers that enhance their knowledge and thereby acquire an understanding of the physical universe in which they live.

Kids played with cooking materials to make playdough

Kids played with 'ants' 
to know how they move and 
how long they walked in a given time.

Here are more ways to increase the amount of time your students spend with their hands and minds in motion:

1. Provide self-check materials
2. Include assessment
3. Keep kids moving
4. Move the materials
5. Group students by interest
6. Incorporate language
7. limits the number of students in each activity to two

source by scholastic.com
Pictures taken by missnediya at skechep 2010