Effective Teaching

Mrs. Buddhika Nimanthi

PHd ( Reading ) / MEd / BEd
wrong Content Right Content
Right Teaching Right Teaching
Effectiveness

Method Method

Wrong Content Right Content

Wrong Teaching Efficient
Wrong Teaching
• We would discuss the most effective teaching
methods so that you can discover which teaching
style suits you and your subject area best.
• Particularly when working with children and teenagers,
it can be hard to retain focus, manage behaviour, and
encourage active participation.
• You don’t need to pick one method and stick to it, but
you may find that certain methods and styles are
perfect for different learning environments.
1. Experiential learning

• This method says that learning is a product of experience.

• We can only gain experience from interacting and

engaging with the world and people around us.

• This learning theory comes from David Kolb’s

experiential learning cycle, and considers the role of all
our experiences in learning, from emotions and
cognition, to our environment.
• Kolb’s 1984 theory suggests that there are four main
stages in the learning cycle:
• Concrete experience. This is when the learner has a
new experience, such as riding a bike for the first time.
• Reflective observation. After the concrete
experience, the learner must reflect on their actions and
watch others perform that action
• Abstract conceptualization.
• The next step involves the learner making sense of their
reflections and making a plan for going forward.
• They might come up with next steps and seek insight from
experts.
Active experimentation.
During the final stage, the learner will consider their
reflections and previous lessons and then retry the original
experience to see if any progress has been made.
• This will lead to a new concrete experience, and so the cycle
restarts.
• Experiential learning is a great teaching method because it
encourages creativity, helps students learn from mistakes,
fosters reflective thinking, and prepares students for future
experiences.
• It can be effective for several subjects, especially during science
experiments, sports coaching, and group projects
• Some simple ways to encourage experiential learning in your
classroom include encouraging students to assess themselves
regularly and reflect on what they’ve learnt.
• As a teacher, you might want to record yourself teaching or
keep feedback journals so that you can reflect on previous
lessons
2. Differentiation

• Differentiated learning is a teaching method that tailors

instructions to students depending on their individual
needs.
• This method could be a great option if you’re teaching
mixed-ability classes and want everyone to get the
most out of each lesson.
• This is a fairly traditional approach to teaching mixed-
ability classes, but it can be successful if managed
sensitively.
• For example, some teachers may choose to teach
entirely different content depending on student ability.
• However, this can cause students to feel embarrassed
and teachers to feel burned out from trying to do too
much at once.
• it’s important for teachers to ensure that they create an
inclusive classroom where students of all abilities are
welcome, regardless of gender, race, sexuality or
disability.
• Differentiated learning should never be used to make
some students feel inferior to others.
• A better way to approach differentiation is to teach in a
variety of ways, including books, films, images, and
verbal presentations.
• This gives different students the opportunity to get
involved and understand the lesson content.
• You can even go further than that and offer
differentiated class activities and assessment styles.
3. Game-based learning

• If you want to focus on making your lessons more fun,

engaging and interactive, then look no further.
• Game-based learning, also known as gamification, is a
great way to engage students, particularly those in
primary and secondary education.
• Gamification is a strategy that implements game-like
elements into non-gaming activities to enhance
motivation.
• Since children are very interested in games, from
video games and mobile applications to simple
playground and board games, this can be a great place
to start.
• Gamification in education,
playing video games has been linked to dopamine production.
• So, incorporating some ideas from video games into
education can actually have positive effects on the mood of
students, making them more determined to succeed.
• However, it is worth mentioning that gamification shouldn’t
necessarily be used in every context.
• Sometimes, lessons require more serious discussions. In
addition, too much game-based learning is likely to remove
some of the fun and increased motivation that children feel.
• Here are some of the ways you can incorporate game-
based learning into your lessons:
• Points systems
• Levels and progress bars
• Challenges and competitions
• Unique rewards
• Learning badges
4. Student-centred learning

• You can probably guess what this approach focuses on – your

students. While the success and happiness of students is always a
high priority for teachers, student-centred learning is different to
more traditional teaching methods.
• Teacher-centred learning, which is more common, requires the
teacher to give classroom instructions and lead the class for the
majority of the time. With student-centred learning, students are
given more opportunities to choose what they want to learn and how
they want to learn it.
• This is also known as personalised learning.
• In student-centred learning approaches, students are encouraged to
take an active role in the classroom, rather than taking part in more
passive activities like listening to a lecture or writing an essay.
• They will have lots of discussions with their peers and
teachers, and they’ll also be encouraged to ask questions,
which is linked to inquiry-based learning.

• Some great examples of this kind of approach include

students taking part in debates, small group projects, and
fun roleplay scenarios together. As a teacher, it’s your job
to be an excellent facilitator. You should encourage
open communication, curiosity, creativity and exploration.
At the end of a classroom activity, the teacher should urge
students to reflect on what they’ve learnt.
5. Collaborative Learning

• Engaging Students
• Collaborative learning can occur peer-to-peer or in larger groups.
• Peer learning, or peer instruction, is a type of collaborative
learning.
• This involves students working in pairs or small groups to discuss
concepts or find solutions to problems.
• Similar to the idea that two or three heads are better than one.
• Researchers have found that through peer instruction, students
teach each other by addressing misunderstandings and clarifying
misconceptions
Why use collaborative learning?

• Research shows that educational experiences that are active,

social, contextual, engaging, and student-owned lead to deeper
learning.
• The benefits of collaborative learning include:
• Development of higher-level thinking, oral communication, self-
management, and leadership skills.
• Promotion of student-faculty interaction.
• Increase in student retention, self-esteem, and responsibility.
• Exposure to and an increase in understanding of diverse
perspectives.
• Preparation for real life social and employment situations.
Considerations for using collaborative learning

• Introduce group or peer work early in the semester to set clear

student expectations.
• Establish ground rules for participation and contributions.
• Plan for each stage of group work.
• Carefully explain to your students how groups or peer discussion will
operate and how students will be graded.
• Help students develop the skills they need to succeed, such as using
team-building exercises or introducing self-reflection techniques.
• Consider using written contracts.
• Incorporate self -assessment and peer assessment for group
members to evaluate their own and others' contributions
Getting started with collaborative
learning
• Shorter in-class collaborative learning activities generally
involve a three-step process.
• This process can be as short as five minutes, but can be
longer, depending on the task at hand.
• Introduce the task. This can be as simple as instructing
students to turn to their neighbor to discuss or debate a topic.
• Provide students with enough time to engage with the task.
Walk around and address any questions as needed.
• Debrief. Call on a few students to share a summary of their
conclusions. Address any misconceptions or clarify any
confusing points. Open the floor for questions.
• Final thoughts
• Hopefully, this list of effective teaching methods has
given you some ideas to bring to the classroom.
• You’ll find further details on many of these topics, as
well as many more, with our teaching courses.
• These can help you work on some of the skills that can
improve your lesson planning and execution, benefiting
you and your students.
References
• Collaborative Learning | Center for Teaching Innovation (cornell.edu)
• https://www.bing.com/search?q=www.google.com+lk&gs_lcrp=EgZja
HJvbWUqBwgAEEUYwg
• Effective Teaching Strategies for the Classroom (study.com)