According to research, students recall 75% of what they do, 5% of what they hear, and 10% of what they read. Experiential learning keeps students interested and paying attention to the learning goal in a world where there are many distractions in the learning environment (think cell phones and other types of technology).

Now that you have hands-on information about what the topic caters to, take the next step to understand which experiential learning activities you can include in your lesson plan as adults and college students. 

Experiential learning: Learn by doing interactive activities

Experiential learning, as we all know, is very different than both active learning, and traditional learning. In this section, we’ll walk you through these easy activities you can put in place to introduce experiential learning into your learning lessons.

1. Missing Word Game

Guess-the-word games and activities help captivate your teenagers from the start. The players must guess the correct word to score a point before their opportunities run out.

The number of participants:

Minimum – 2, Maximum – 10

You will need the following:

• A whiteboard and marker
• Paper and pen for keeping score

Setup:

Prepare a list of words or phrases from a specific subject of your choice.

How to play:

• The moderator or host will choose a word and draw a blank for each letter.
• The team members must guess the possible letters to fill in the blanks.
• If they get a letter correct, they guess again and continue until they obtain the entire word.
• If they get the letter wrong, the host will draw a portion of a stick figure.
• After the host finishes sketching the figure, the team has no more chances.

This game teaches teens to be cautious and correctly guess the word when using their chances. You can also design the game on any subject you like, including math, science, environmental science, history, geography, music, art, and movies.

2. Monopoly

Monopoly is one of the most popular fun learning games for teens. The game is about creating wealth and the hindrances one may face when trying to make money.

The number of participants:

Minimum – 2, Maximum – 6

You will need the following:

1 Monopoly board game

Setup:

• Read the game’s instructions and ensure you understand everything if your teen has any questions later.
• Each player receives $1500, which is divided into 500, 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, and 1 denominations. The amount and denominations can alter between game versions.
• The bank has the property deeds (cards) and the leftover funds.

How to play:

• One player must act as the banker, managing the trades that the other players wish to make. The banker controls the deeds, houses, and hotels players can construct on their sites.
• The game starts with the player who rolls the highest number on the dice.
• The number on the dice represents the number of moves the player must make on the board.
• When the player arrives in a city or territory, he or she can purchase it from the bank.
• If a player is landed on another player’s property by the roll of the dice, the owner collects the rent.
• Building residences or hotels on the property allows players to earn higher rent from others.
• The game can last for hours or until all, but one player runs out of money.

Monopoly introduces your youngster to the world of property trade and wealth accumulation while facing obstacles such as taxes, penalties, and even jail time.

3. Dumb Charades Or Mime Games

Dumb Charades, often known as mime games, may be a lot of fun. Charades are appropriate for children aged eight to fourteen. It’s similar to Pictionary, except players try to communicate a word or phrase instead of drawing on a board.

The number of participants:

Minimum – 4 Maximum – 10

You will need the following:

Paper and pen for keeping the score.

Setup:

The teacher or parent can create a list of subject-related words or phrases that your teenager is familiar with. Make little chits of paper with the words or phrases.

Playing Instructions:

• Divide the group of participants into teams of at least two.
• A group member selects a chit but does not read it aloud.
• The player must enact the word or phrase, and the other team member(s) must guess the word or phrase.
• If they get it right, the team gets the point.

Shy teenagers may be unwilling to play this game. Allow them to participate in the game, but only make them face the audience if they are willing.

4. Name That Song

Teenagers typically enjoy music. According to one study, students love listening to music while doing their schoolwork. According to Robert A. Cutietta, author of Raising Musical Kids: A Parent’s Guide, they listen to around 10,500 hours of music between the seventh and twelfth grades. If your teen enjoys music, here is a simple instructional game that he will like.

The number of participants:

Minimum – 2, Maximum – No Limit

You Will Need the following:

• A music player
• A collection of songs or an online library of songs.
• Paper and pen for keeping score.

Setup:

• One person can act as the moderator, with the others as participants. You can form groups and compete if there are more than five participants.
• It will take you at least a couple of hours to gather enough music for the game. Make sure to include pop music as well as other genres.
• The moderator should be aware of the artist’s name as well as the title of each song.

How to play:

• The moderator randomly selects a song from the library and plays it for 10 to 15 seconds.
• Teams or individuals will be allowed 30 seconds to come up with the artist’s name and the song’s title.
• If the first team fails, the question is passed on to the second. If no team gets it, make it a free-for-all question and urge participants to guess.
• If no one correctly answers, the moderator reveals the answer.
• You have the option of playing as many rounds as you wish.

You can modify the game by asking participants to identify the genre of music, the instrument being performed, and the chord (if the group has knowledge of music).

5. Word Reaction

The chain reaction is a simple game for building a teenager’s vocabulary.

The number of participants:

Minimum – 10, Maximum – NA

You will need the following:

• Sheets of paper
• Pens

Setup:

• Choose a topic appropriate for teenagers, such as cuisine, novels, names of people, animals, cities, songs, anything from nature, or a specific discipline such as biology, geography, or arithmetic.
• Inform the participants of the topic or theme; if in a school, write it on the board.
• Provide each participant with a sheet of paper and a pen.
• Request that they write the alphabet from A to Z vertically.

How to play:

• Allow your participants five minutes to brainstorm an alphabetical list of terms related to the theme or issue.
• The game begins when the first individual reads out a word that he or she has written.
• The following person must say a word that begins with the last letter of the first word.
• The game continues until all of the letters have been covered.
• Players who cannot provide a related term are eliminated.

You can play the game with different topics as often as you wish. The chain reaction is one of the most effective techniques to help learners remember and recall all they have learned.

6. Passing the ball

The goal of this game is not to be the one holding the ball.

The number of participants:

Minimum – 8, Maximum – 12

You will need the following:

Football or a stuffed-toy ball

Setup:

• Make the participants sit in a circle, with enough space between each other to pass the prop comfortably.
• Select a host or moderator to observe the game and identify ‘It.’

How to play:

• It is the guy holding the ball.
• The host or moderator asks a question and then commands, ‘Pass the ball.’
• When the moderator says “pass the ball,” answer the question before the prop returns to him. For instance, the host might say, “Name five baseball teams.” It requires the player to pass the ball and name five teams before the ball is returned to him.
• While the player answers the question, the other players must pass the ball.
• The player who has the ball at the end of the answer becomes the new ‘It’ and must answer the following question from the moderator.
• If the prop returns to the original holder before he or she can answer the question, they remain ‘It.’

This game pushes teens to think quickly and respond in order to avoid the host’s inquiries.

How to put experiential learning into practice?

You can use virtualization, cloud computing, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) to provide, enhance, and accelerate remote experiential learning. Simple synchronous and asynchronous tools like video conferencing, discussion forums, e-portfolios, interactive surveys or games for skill testing, and remote labs for experimental work can be utilized for collaborative work. The influence of technology becomes clearer in this case.

Knowing the importance of feedback in education, receiving rapid, automatic feedback on performance in virtual environments, such as cloud-based games and quizzes, improves learners’ understanding of their strengths and limitations, allowing them to self-improve. The student is encouraged to reflect on their performance, absorb what works and what doesn’t, put their new skills to the test, and change their behavior to achieve better results as they participate in the activity.

• Determine ‘why’ you want to invest in experiential learning activities.
• Ensure that all materials that support all phases of the Experiential Learning Cycle are easily accessible to your staff. (The Experiential Learning Cycle consists of the following steps: learning by doing, reflecting, thinking, and applying what has been learned.)
• Maintain a strong feedback loop.
• Encourage it as part of the business culture rather than as a separate initiative.

Conclusion  

Most teachers eventually realize that just providing material to a teenager does not ensure that it will be assimilated in a meaningful way. As a result, these examples of experiential learning activities highlight the value of experiential learning as a methodology.

Among other tools like books, apps, and quotes, experiential learning activities assist you in avoiding this issue by utilizing a student-centered strategy that enables participants to take learning into their own hands and apply it in an interesting environment.

You’ll be able to feel the exhilaration directly if you apply these exercises effectively. After all, the demonstrated success of experiential learning suggests that how your students are taught, rather than what they are taught, can make all the difference.

Manpreet Singh

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’, 

The post 6 Fun Experiential Learning Activities For Adults & College Students appeared first on Number Dyslexia.

However, the continuance of certain accommodations and the addition of others at the college level is equally important for the seamless flow of education to continue.

While legislation on this is not as strong as the 504 accommodations, certain initiatives have been taken to provide students with learning disabilities support at the college level to enrich their human capital for themselves and the nation at large.

How to get LD accommodations at the college level?

The procedure for requesting accommodations will require you to set up a meeting with the Disability Services Officer and often requires some form of formal certification from the health authorities.

 You can then request such accommodations that will be suitable for overcoming your learning disability to a reasonable extent.

 It is sad fact, but true, that while 94% of high school students with learning disabilities are able to avail of some form of accommodation benefits, only 17% of college students get access to accommodation benefits.

The responsibility for these sorry statistics lies on the students too as they do not ask actively for such assistance. This can be partly attributed to the lack of awareness. Knowing your rights is an important part of being an active builder for your own academic future as well as a significant contributor to society as well.

Hence, here is a list of some of these accommodations that can provide students with much assistance at the college level:

Accommodations for learning disabilities in college

1. Audio-Aids

If the student has short-term or long-term memory issues, they can request to record the lectures on their devices and later replay them, at their convenience. They can also request smart pens at the college’s expense.

The students can also ask for Audio textbooks and pre-recorded lectures which can act as an essential aid if they suffer from reading and spelling disabilities.  

The students can also request other speech-to-text software.

These aids also help the students to learn at their own pace, and not lose out while trying to catch up to the regular classroom pace.

2. Writing Aids

The students can also request a scribe to take notes. These can be any fellow students at the college who volunteer to take notes for them.

 They can also request for use of calculators if they are suffering from a number disability like Dyscalculia.

Likewise, the students can request their Professors to provide the course material ahead of the scheduled class so they can prepare adequately beforehand and keep pace with the class. 

3. Change in Curriculum

The students can also demand a change in curriculum and course materials for them to a certain extent. This specialized curriculum can help them achieve the best learning outcomes, in spite of their learning disabilities.

The students can also demand extra time to submit their course assignments and even can ask for a reduced course load. However, the latter may sometimes lead to reduced financial aid as well.  

4. Exam Relaxations

The students can also request certain exam time relaxations to ensure a smoother journey.

They are allowed to ask for extra time, which can be as much as an hour and a half. If they suffer from ADHD, they may also ask for a separate room. They can speak to the exam in charge beforehand about the kind of environment they will require to ensure their best output.

Alternatively, they may also request a change in the exam format more suitable to their learning disability from oral to written or vice versa.

5. Disability Specialists and Disability Resource Centers

The University may also have a Disability Specialist resident at the Campus who can guide the students with respect to which accommodations to avail.

For example, if the student suffers from Dyscalculia, they may suggest a major that does not require math so that they can get better grades without Math dragging them down.

The students should also always keep a lookout for the Disability Resource Centers around their college as they often provide various services like offering scribes and recording devices.

Summing up,

The student also needs to be in constant touch with the Disabilities officer at the University to keep them regularly updated about their accommodation needs.

The desire to ‘fit in’ should not lead to compromises in their academic education.

It is important to remember that if you are one of these students, you are asking for aid to overcome shortcomings at birth and not demanding additional privileges.

Overcoming your initial hesitation can encourage many more college students with learning disabilities to overcome the embarrassment they may feel on demanding such accommodations. This in turn will help pave the pathway to a more inclusive society.

Although the IDEA act has gone a long way in legalizing the demand for accommodations for high school students, the Americans with Disabilities Act has at the most provided equal access to college without discrimination on the basis of disabilities. However, it has not provided due protection to their accommodation demands yet. 

Every year more than 200,000 students with learning disabilities enter college and it is important to unite their voices for a more inclusive educational environment, and a world where everyone is provided an arena to explore their potential to the fullest.

Manpreet Singh

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’, 

The post 5 Helpful Accommodations For College Students With Learning Disabilities appeared first on Number Dyslexia.

As students grow older, their academic and social life become increasingly convoluted. This convolution can make it difficult for these young minds to navigate through, resulting in poor academic performance, lack of sleep, anxiety, and stress. Students need to strike the right cord between all the aspects of their student life by curating time-based schedules depending on requirements and priorities.

Why is time management essential for college students?

College students are exposed to various activities and exercises daily that help them hone their skills. Concepts such as algebra and trigonometry are introduced at an early level and advance through the college years. Between all these activities, hobbies, interests, co-curricular activities, and academics getting more complex with time, it is natural to mismanage. However, it must be rectified. 

In the previous era, time seemed to pass by slowly. While many of us still yearn for it, the participation of each individual in the contemporaries of the western and revolutionized world demands skill full people. It is natural to feel burdened. The question here is, what distinguishes successful students from the rest of the lot? Not just time management but most importantly, effective time management. Managing time well remains one of the most valuable skills ever. Improvising this skill can make room for many other things that students may not pursue otherwise. 

What is effective time management? 

Time management is the process of effectively organising, scheduling, and managing time. You are the sole controller of how you spend your time regulating your energy amidst several essential activities. Mastering this will help in avoiding procrastination and get the best results. Set small deadlines for yourself to complete day-to-day activities. 

Here are some more benefits of being able to manage time effectively:

1. Stress-free student life

Nobody performs well under excess pressure or at the nick of a deadline. Students must accustom themselves to manage the stress and also be highly productive at the same time. When the workload is enormous, time management skills come in handy. This skill dictates the path, ensuring reasonable productivity rates with no stress to mental and physical health.

2.  Time Freedom

If you can tackle your time effectively, you can prioritize your tasks based on their importance and that way; you are left with time to commit to more meaningful and long-term goals. Effective time management catalyzes the completion of enormous tasks in lesser time. It leaves you with surplus time, thus improving your focus and allowing room for recreational activities or hobbies.

3. Better focus

Good time management teaches you to work smarter. You begin focusing on the results rather than the process, thus effectively increases your focus. A better focus yields better productivity. You also learn the art of prioritization; wherein, you segregate tasks based on the importance of completion. The ability to make such decisions is what most students lack. 

4. No more procrastination

Procrastination is directly linked to incompetent time managerial skills. When you lack clarity, your focus disperses, leading you to procrastinate even the simplest of things. Your excess workload begins controlling you, and when it is the peak, you tend to procrastinate. Although, if you learn the art of time management, you automatically gain the ability to control the workload.

5. Builds teamwork

When working in a team, students with different abilities come together and strive towards achieving a common goal. Besides the skills that each individual possesses, the time management skills of all team members must sync. These play an essential role. To achieve their purpose, they must manage working within the deadline, for which they have to collectively manage their time and workload. Since time management is directly linked to productivity, any group must fasten their belts and work smartly.

How to inculcate time management skills within college students?

Time management is also one of the crucial parts of most academic curriculums. 

There have been several theories around time management in the past. For instance, the Pomodoro Technique emphasizes on completion of tasks in intervals of 25 minutes. On the other hand, Parkinson’s Law exclaims setting proactive deadlines boosts productivity by nearly 40%.

Although this skill can be taught to college students in several ways, games and activities remain the most popular. Through games and activities, not only will they learn the skill, but they will also retain it. 

Here is a list of six activities that will teach time management skills to college students.

1. Time squared

This game gives your students a reality check on how they spend their day. It is a creative way to give them a heads up about their time allocating and prioritizing abilities. Prepare three sheets of 24 squares each. These 24 squares each represent an hour of the day. 

Give the students the first sheet and ask them to mark their routine on the sheet. Say, for example, sleeping consists of eight hours to draw sleeping emojis in four squares. Next, please give them the second sheet and ask them to fill out their leisure hours like movies, video games, etc. Hand them the last sheet, which is the summary of the first two. The squares that remain uncolored are their unproductive hours. 

Takeaways:  Focus on re-analysing their schedule, increasing productivity

2. What I did yesterday

This game narrows down the efforts that students put into various activities. By the end of the game, they will know if their efforts are worthwhile or not. 

Hand over two sheets of paper to each student. In the first sheet, ask them to note down a list of ten activities they regularly did in the last two years that would value designing their future. Next, in the second sheet, ask them to fill in five things that they want to see in their future. It can be academic-related things or non-academics. 

Now, ask them to compare both the sheets and establish a link between the two. Students will learn of some activities that have little or absolutely no importance in their near future. 

Takeaways: Modifying daily schedule, increased efficiency.

3. Time wasters

Divide your students into groups of four. Prepare a list of some chores that are deemed as ‘time-wasters.’ For example, your list can contain ‘watching youtube videos of funny animals.’ 

Now write these time-wasters behind each envelope and place cue cards inside them. Hand the groups one envelope each and ask them to figure out a solution for the time waster and write it on the cue card provided. Circulate each envelope among all the teams, and at the end of the game, read out all the solutions and decide the best one. 

Takeaways: Learning to deal with distractions, increasing focus on mental health.

4. The Mayo Jar lesson

Divide the students into groups. Allocate each team with a mayonnaise jar, pebbles, golf balls, and sand. Ask the teams to fill the mayo jar with all the items they are provided, such that no item is left out. Now, the correct order to do is to start by filling the jar with golf balls, pebbles, and lastly, sand. If any other order is used, there shall be no room for all items. 

After the game, explain to the students that the golf balls represent the most critical and high-priority tasks. The pebbles represent tasks that can take a back seat for the time being. And lastly, the sand represents everything else, including leisure. 

This activity is best favored by the Pickle Jar Theory of time management. 

Takeaways: Learning to prioritise tasks, categorising tasks based on their importance

5. The race to the ace of space

This activity is handed over to students individually. Bring in two decks of cards. You have to organise one of the decks with all cards facing one direction and arranged from Aces to Kings. The other deck of cards is relatively unorganised with no uniformity. The cards are randomly arranged, facing different directions. 

Choose two volunteers and ask them to find the ace of spades. Unless luck is on his side, the volunteer with the first deck of cards finds the ace of spades immediately. The second volunteer may, however, complain of a lack of fairness in the game. However, the takeaway is interesting. The unorganised deck symbolizes non-prioritizing tasks and randomly working on them. They take plenty of time, ultimately leading to students wasting their time. The organised deck symbolizes tasks organised based on their priority.

Takeaways: Understanding the importance of organisation, unblocking time for high-priority tasks

6. Animal Origami

Divide the students into groups of five. Elect a team leader for each group and take them away from the group. Teach them any origami of your choice, preferably an animal origami that can stand flat on the ground. 

Next, take them to the rest of the class and instruct them to teach their group members to make the same animal origami. Hand them four sheets of paper.

Give them the following instructions:

• They must make 40 origami.
• The shape and size of each origami are essential.
• No extra sheets will be provided.
• The maximum allotted time is 15 minutes.

Students will begin working in groups. At the end of 15 minutes, they will realise that each one has different abilities. Quick learners would have already categorised the entire task into subtasks based on the ability of each team member. Such a team succeeds in completing the task.

Takeaways: Time management, team building.

Wrapping up,

Time management activities and games are true eye-openers. With simple games and activities, students can correlate the instances to real-life scenarios and tackle them effectively. 

Efficient time management application in day-to-day life starts from the teacher – organised teaching, timely reviews, timely PTAs, and organised classroom structure. Such practical examples of time management demonstrate the necessity of acquiring such skills.

Several reputed universities now include special sessions such as workshops and guest lectures on requirements and inculcation of time management skills. Acquiring such skills is good for boosting one’s curriculum vitae.

Manpreet Singh

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’, 

The post Activities for College Students to Improve Time Management Skills appeared first on Number Dyslexia.