Incidental learning is the process of teaching skills, imparting knowledge, and enhancing a desired behavior through naturally occurring chances and interactions with the environment. It emerges as a result of deliberate learning as well as throughout the course of a task or activity. Accessing incidental learning experiences can improve vocabulary and literacy growth.
In contrast to intentional learning which includes sitting down and reading a book on purpose, incidental learning gives kids the chance to practice their reading abilities in useful, practical contexts. However, it is a challenge to create or wait for different incidents. That’s when incidental learning activities work great for students.
Through these activities, teachers can create a comprehensive learning environment. Here, students learn naturally and not as a task or an obligation. Check different activities that foster a healthy learning environment through different incidents.
Incidental learning: What does research point out?
Significant research[1] was conducted on Incidental learning by adults in a nontraditional degree program highlighting the impact of this learning. It also taps into the element to understand the nature of a student’s learning with reference to incidental learning.
By including instructional and learning activities like small-group interaction in class, instructor-facilitated large-group discussions, and applied research assignments, the program design appears to foster a great deal of incidental learning. The research points out the importance of significant activities and assignments with some degree of flexibility for the implementation of incidental learning.
It is also mentioned that assessment of this learning is equally crucial to understand knowledge enhancement in individuals. Hence, it becomes significant for teachers and educators to assess the learning and not leave subject matters purely in the form of informal learning.
Interesting activities to encourage incidental learning
Incidental learning occurs naturally however, certain activities can boost the process in an effective manner. The below-mentioned activities are helpful to indulge students in developing vocabulary and also making them situationally aware.
1. Travel to a Museum
In the museum, there is a wide collection of information related to various subjects. This information is displayed through the help of actual art pieces, statues, historical items related to war, and scientific models of various kinds.
- Plan a class trip to a museum
- Give your students time and liberty to explore the various sections of the museum
- After the trip is over, encourage students to share any information that they liked when they were on the trip
- Ask them to describe any images or models which they saw and encourage them to explain what they understood
- Group discussion will help students to share and learn together
The historical artifacts are presented informally, grasping the attention of students and gripping them to simply observe. What they pursue as a form of entertainment and simple exploration, finds a way to encode itself in their memory storage.
2. Let’s Watch it!
Documentaries or any kind of educational videos related to wildlife, science, or history are great tools to help students learn. In such ways, students can indulge in incidental learning.
- Plan a day in a week when students will be shown an informative documentary
- This document should contain information related to any subject, for example, Universe and its Secret or Climate Change
- After the documentary is over, encourage students to make a report
Students pursue and look forward to lectures in which various types of animated videos or informative videos are shown. Such an activity engages their mind and retains their attention for a longer period of time.
3. Pick a Chit
It is an interactive activity where students learn to speak on different topics which in turn enhances their grip on the language. They also develop social skills through public speaking.
- Keep a bowl of chits
- Write simple topics on which students have to speak 5-10 lines in a particular language.
- The topics can be the following
- What do you like about your school?
- Which is your favorite animal and why?
- A list of 5 things you learned from your favorite movie
- After they finish speaking, appreciate their efforts
This activity is a great way to help students learn presentation skills through incidental learning. Involvement in this activity also enhances their vocabulary and gives them loads of insights on where to use which statements while conversing.
4. Field Trip
Field trips are always fun. What is learned by experience stays in the mind for a long period of time. Field trips can be arranged to various places such as national parks, biscuits, chocolate industries, police stations, and so on.
- Arrange a class field trip
- Give students the time to explore and experience
- After the trip is over, ask students to prepare a short report on the weather/plants/people, or anything significant
- Encourage them to speak and share their views
- As an educator, share your views and explain the purpose of the trip
Field trips provide students an opportunity to cool off from academic stress and understand many things by observation and involvement in the process of exploration.
5. Where am I today?
This is an activity that is based on a specific set of situations. This activity can be conducted where an actual setup of a place is created or it can also be done where students are simply encouraged to visualize and imagine.
- Ask students to imagine that they are in a particular place
- That place can be a market, a hospital, a garden, a mountain, a beach, or any place that students have been to
- Then give them a situation with a problem that requires to be solved
- For example, a student has to plan for her younger siblings’ birthday party and she is in the mall. What can she do in a mall which can help her to arrange the party?
- Give students time to imagine and then write their answers
- Give them 20 minutes for this activity
This type of activity helps students in learning organization and planning regarding daily activities of life. This activity can also help students in thinking and mapping their thoughts effectively.
6. Let’s Plant
Getting hands-on experience through gardening leads to practical learning. Students can learn a lot about soil, fertilizers, decomposition, and other scientific concepts while carrying out this activity.
- Plan a day and take them to garden
- Give them a set of gardening tools that are kid-friendly
- Encourage kids to either bring seeds, pulses, or small saplings
- Simply show them how to plant, water, and create small fencing with sticks
- Discuss their learnings and observations
This activity can help students learn about the different types of soils. The different types of crops which are grown in different soils, the tools that are used, and for what they are used.
7. My Role Model!
Role-playing activities are efficient ways of learning something through fun. This type of activity engages students in creative pursuits and expands the horizons of their imagination.
- Ask students to dress like their role model
- Dressing code is important
- Ask students to then speak a few lines on what they are and what their role model does
- Encourage them to give more information regarding the profession and other characteristics that inspire them
This is an interactive fun activity that can engage students in discovering the life of their role models. This can help them learn about what process or route did their role models take to become who they are today.
8. What’s New Today?
This activity is based on developing a habit and improving language skills. It helps in furnishing active listening skills as well.
- Their task is to find news related to national, international, weather, sports educational, or scientific sections of the newspaper
- Divide students into teams and 3 and take 1 team for discussion each day
- Ask them to share views in collaboration
As students get an opportunity to read the news and know what’s going on in the world, they are more likely to learn about facts and figures. Such learning occurs naturally and they might develop an interest in reading.
9. New Teacher
Keeping this activity as a surprise activity can promote incidental learning. Though it can catch students off-guard, it can help educators learn what exactly students understand in the class.
- Surprise your students by allocating a group of students the responsibility to take a class today
- They need to teach anything to the class
- It could be a recipe, a quote from the book, or how to manage time during exams
- Encourage them to do this task confidently and later appreciate and reward them
This activity is fun and very challenging activity. In this, students incidentally learn the art of controlling a class, handling pressure, and public speaking. Such an activity promotes interaction and helps in generating a better student-teacher bond.
10. Scavenger Hunt
Treasure hunts are always fun. This activity is full of brain teasers, challenges, and many opportunities to learn. Treasure hunting can go on for hours and students learn a lot of things unknowingly.
- Create a treasure hunt on the theme of nature
- Conduct this activity in a garden or school campus
- Give them a sheet of paper and print pictures of various elements in nature including rough stone, smooth stone, green leaf, yellow leaf, a branch, and a feather
- Students need to go around and find the right items and collect them
- Keep the activity a timed activity of a few hours
This type of treasure hunt activity can help students think critically and help them use their minds in a creative manner. It can help in the development of problem-solving and strategic thinking which is important in many areas.
Wrapping up
Incidental learning is indeed a fun way to learn and is beneficial for a child’s development. When students don’t know that they are learning something, they put more effort as a way to enjoy the activity. Learning through experience promotes paying more attention in class, it adds spice to the academic journey and keeps the boredom away. The concept of incidental learning can be tapped through such kinds of activities and educators can ensure that learning has taken place by conducting group discussions and assigning report assignments to students.
Reference
- Craig A. Mealman. (1993). INCIDENTAL LEARNING BY ADULTS IN A NONTRADITIONAL DEGREE PROGRAM: A CASE STUDY (Page-259)
An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’,