As a first year teacher, I am learning how critical it is for teachers to plan class activities which allow students to engage in the material covered in class. Such activities may be planned to introduce a lesson, practice a topic in class, or reinforce a lesson outside the classroom as a "wrap-up" - and greatly aid in the students' understanding of a concept. When executed well, such activities: (a) engage learners in the learning process, (b) encourage independent learning skills, (c) develop the learners’ skills and knowledge, and (d) motivate further learning.
The first and most important factor to consider in designing an effective learning activity is your learners: their needs, motives for learning, prior experience of learning, social and interpersonal skills, etc. A specific purpose always underlies a great learning activity as well (i.e., is the activity intended for the learner to acquire a particular piece of knowledge or master a set of skills?). Often, activities have general goals (e.g., developing students' ability to perform research) and specific targets (e.g. the NYS standards students must meet). Logistics are carefully considered in planning meaningul activities as well; available resources, tools, facilities and services, and their match with the learners’ needs must be determined in advance. (Ex: To help students understand the relationship between fractions and percents earlier in the school year, my students performed an activity involving constructing a pie chart. Unfortunately, however, I did not consider ALL of the specific skills my learners required. My students had never used a compass to draw a circle, let alone a protractor to measure angles, and as a consequence, the activity flopped.)
The links below, in my view, are effective activities. You will see that each activity, while math-related, provide a strong motivation (whether it be candy, shopping, money, etc.), clear tasks, measureable objectives, resources to guide the learners (e.g., via external links and worksheets), etc. Click on the links to see for yourself!
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