Welcome back to the Wakelet blog! In today's post, we're diving into eight powerful instructional strategies to elevate your teaching and enhance student learning. Whether you're a seasoned educator or new to the classroom, these strategies are designed to foster engagement, deepen understanding, and support diverse learners. Let's explore how you can implement these techniques to create a more dynamic and effective learning environment for your students.
Idea: Students work in groups to research and present solutions to real-world problems, such as environmental issues or historical events. They can create models, write reports, and present their findings.
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By using a Wakelet collection like this, students can collaborate to compile their research and learning resources to find the most accurate information and then create their group project presentation.
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Example = Exploring the Solar System
You can use your Wakelet collection to house all of the learning resources for your students to read, watch and interact with outside of the classroom. You can start the class with a group discussion based on the guiding questions and resources from the Wakelet collection. Encourage students to share their insights and what they found most interesting. You can then provide more interaction amongst the class by hosting a debate.
Idea: Students take on roles of historical figures or characters to re-enact events, debates, or trials. This helps them understand different perspectives and develop empathy.
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Deepens understanding of different perspectives = Role-playing requires students to step into someone else's shoes, whether it's a historical figure, a character from a book, or a stakeholder in a debate. This helps students understand different perspectives and develop empathy, making the material more relatable and memorable.
Improves communication and social skills = It requires students to speak and listen to each other. Students practice articulating their thoughts clearly, listening to different viewpoints, and negotiating or persuading others.
These activities enhance their communication and social interaction skills.
Provides a safe environment for practice = Role-playing creates a safe and controlled environment where students can experiment with different behaviours, responses, and strategies without real-world consequences. This can be particularly useful for subjects like conflict resolution, leadership, or counselling, where students can practice and refine their skills.
Example = The American Revolution.
You can put together the relevant resources in the Wakelet collection to create a role-play, for example, the American Revolution. Using the column layout specific sections can be created in the collection to assign students different roles, each role can have a brief description and resources linked to help students understand their character better. Bonus: After the role-play and simulation activities, students can input their thoughts in the ‘Reflections’ column and suggest what they can do to improve their knowledge of the topic going forward.
Idea: Students ask questions, conduct experiments, and gather data to find answers. This promotes critical thinking and a deeper understanding of scientific concepts.
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Example = Exploring Renewable Energy
Pose a driving question such as “How can our community increase the use of renewable energy sources effectively?”. Then, divide students into groups, each focusing on a difference such as renewable energy sources. Each group uses the Wakelet collection to guide their research and to prepare a presentation to share with the class. BONUS: Use the presentations in the Wakelet collection as a reference point to facilitate a class discussion.
Idea: Incorporate games and challenges into the lesson. For example, use math games to practice arithmetic or vocabulary scavenger hunts to build language skills.
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Example = Regions of the United States
One way to use Wakelet for gamified learning is to set up a collection, like the one linked above, and devise various challenges to which students can respond. You can assign this as an activity with the Wakelet Education plan meaning each student receives their version of the collection to work through and add their answers. BONUS: You can also add quizzes made in Google Forms, Quizizz, Kahoot and other quiz tools.
Idea: Students work together on group projects or as a class. This can include peer teaching, where students explain concepts to one another.
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Example = Battle of Stalingrad
Introduce the collaborative project and explain that students will work as a group to research a topic for example the Battle of Stalingrad. Each student uses the resources in the collection as a starting point and can also do further research. They should include articles, videos, primary sources, and any other relevant materials. Encourage students to annotate the resources they find and add reflections or discussion points. Students exchange their Wakelet links with another group for peer review. They provide constructive feedback on the organization, content quality, and completeness. Students make final edits based on peer feedback. Each student presents their Wakelet collection to the class. This can be done by projecting the collection on a screen and having group members talk through their research. Evaluate the Wakelet collections based on criteria such as depth of research, organization, collaboration, creativity, and presentation skills. Include peer review and self-assessment components.
Idea: Students engage in a structured discussion based on open-ended questions about a text or topic. This encourages critical thinking and articulates the expression of ideas.
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Example = The Ethics of AI
This collection highlights how Wakelet can be utilized from both a learning and discussion standpoint. Images, articles and videos have been added to aid learning whilst questions and prompts have also been included so that students can interactively respond to questions set by the teacher. As a result, this allows for a clear recording of how the debates surrounding this topic have developed throughout studying it and how students’ knowledge has collectively developed as their understanding has become greater. Students would interact by filling in their thoughts under the ‘Interactive debate section’ and “Reflections and conclusions’ columns making learning way more collaborative.
Idea: Students participate in community service projects related to the curriculum. For example, they might clean up a local park and study the environmental impact.
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Example = Local Water Conservation Project
For Service Learning, Wakelet can be adapted in a manner that can document and serve as a reference point for what aims and objectives a project desires to fulfil. In the collection attached, students add their resources where they can highlight the issues which require water conservation projects to be undertaken. On top of this, they can brainstorm ideas which should lead to more water conservation and can also use the collection to add their media, clearly showing the great effect their actions have had on their local communities.
These ideas can be adapted to different grade levels and subjects, ensuring that the content is relevant and appropriate for your students. By incorporating these engaging strategies, you can create a dynamic and interactive learning environment whilst making the learning experience more streamlined and enjoyable for the individual student. If you’re interested in seeing how your school or district can implement these learning strategies through Wakelet then check out the Wakelet School and Districts plan or reach out to the Wakelet Team for a demo.