As a new term begins, schools and educators must find as many ways as possible to make education more enjoyable for their students. After all, in doing so, students of all ages become more engaged in the classroom, which can help them to reach their full potential.

While every child is different, meaning different strategies may need to be utilised to support them, here are some simple ways in which schools can begin to heighten a student’s educational experience! 

Create a range of different learning environments.

Different children will work well in different environments. For example, some may perform better in silence, whereas others need some background noise around them to be able to focus. While it’s impossible to cater to everyone simultaneously, creating a range of different learning environments, such as indoor and outdoor spaces (using outdoor covering for schools), can go a long way towards achieving this goal. 

Encourage active learning.

Active learning or hands-on classroom activities can help consolidate a child’s knowledge and understanding of a topic while making a lesson more engaging. Furthermore, studies have shown that “when multiple activities such as talking, listening, and using the hands are combined, it activates more areas of the brain than a single activity.” 

Discourage comparison.

Many children will compare themselves to their peers, especially in the classroom, regarding test scores or academic performance. However, this can often knock their confidence quite considerably, which, in turn, can cause them to withdraw further from their studies. As such, by working to discourage comparison and letting every student know they are on their own learning journey with their own end goals, you can boost their confidence quite considerably. 

Use technology to support learning.

For years, the use of technology within the classroom was sometimes frowned upon, with many wondering if it would lead to more distractions. However, when used correctly, technology can become a vital learning tool, and it can also help improve a student’s understanding of complex topics. 

For example, online maths games can take your numeracy lessons to the next level by: 

• Providing students with immediate feedback when they get an answer wrong and offering them the chance to try again.
• Enabling you to set assignments based on each student’s skill set or level of understanding.
• Turning complex topics into something fun and exciting. 

Putting together individual plans for each student.

As mentioned above, every child is different. As such, teachers and educators should develop individual plans for each child that they can then use to steer them toward success. These plans do not necessarily need to be overly complicated or lengthy. For example, they can simply be a series of goals they hope to help the child achieve over the academic year. This will give both the teacher and the student something to work towards.

Schools should also work to recognize the hard work of their students through awards and certificates, which can once again boost classroom engagement while also encouraging the children to be proud of what they have achieved.