Education, like almost any other field in our society, has evolved at a rapid pace in recent years. The traditional teaching techniques, based mainly on the figure of the teacher explaining and the students taking notes can still be useful in some occasions; however, today education revolves more around stimulating students to awaken their curiosity and desire to learn.
As a result of this tendency, new teaching techniques have emerged. Many of these teaching techniques are not new. However, the use of the new technologies that we have at our disposal today can give them a new focus and make them spread in our classrooms.
- Flipped Classroom:
This teaching technique basically consists of students studying and preparing the lesson before the class. In this way, the class in question becomes much more dynamic and an environment in which to deepen the subject of study. The students come from a home with the basic concepts assimilated, so the class can dedicate itself to solving doubts and going further on the topics for which the students feel more curious.
- Design Thinking:
This technique is based on using real cases and solving them in groups through analysis, brainstorming, innovation and creative ideas. Although “design thinking” is a structured method, in practice it is quite disorganized, since it deals with real problems about which in most cases there is not enough information and it may even be that the conclusion is that there is no solution possible.
- Self-learning:
Curiosity is the main engine of learning. As a basic principle of learning, it does not make much sense to force the students to memorize a text so that they forget it 2 days after the exam. The key is to let students focus on the area that interests them most to explore and learn about it actively.
- Games:
Learning through the use of games is a method that has already been explored by some teachers, mainly in primary and preschool education. Through the use of games, the student learns without practically realizing it. Therefore, learning by playing is a learning technique that can be very effective at any age, being also used to keep the student motivated.
The teacher must design projects that are suitable for their students, taking into account their age and knowledge, while making them attractive enough to provide extra motivation. One idea may be to encourage students to create Tests with questions related to a given topic and encourage them to challenge their peers to ask them to see who gets a higher score. In this way, students will enjoy the competition with their classmates to achieve the highest score.
- Social Media:
A variation of the previous point is the teaching techniques based on social networks. In this way, the students, who today spend the day on social networks, will have an extra motivation to learn. The forms that this method of learning can take are very varied since there are hundreds of social networks and possibilities. A good example is an initiative carried out by the Brazilian language academy “Red Ballon”, which encouraged its students to check the tweets of their favorite artists and correct the grammatical errors they made to reinforce their learning of English.
- Exegetical Technique or Commented Reading:
It is based on the reading of texts related to the topic or author to be treated. The objective of this technique is for the student to understand what the author wants to communicate and to look for the meaning implicit in the text, as well as their circumstances. Each student can be based on the topic that interests him the most to inquire about himself. Again, newer technologies give us a great advantage in the use of this technique, since they allow us access to an unlimited amount of information.
Author Bio
Lara Hawkins is one of the most renowned and top-ranked professionals for expert online education management and professional career counseling. Lara has worked as an assignment help service company and continued her career in the field of student consultancy while blogging and engaging with the online community.