The document discusses the importance of active learning in education, emphasizing the need for student-centered approaches that encourage engagement and critical thinking. It outlines various methods to promote active learning in children, including experiential learning, group discussions, and linking lessons to real-life scenarios. The document highlights the benefits of such approaches, including improved learning abilities, self-evaluation, and personal development.

1. How Do We Encourage Active Learning In
Children?
Our education systems are built in a way that, at most times, learners remain passive in a
learning environment. Teachers talk to the students, narrating and teaching the topics while
students remain mere listeners. Active learning approaches can create a different
environment where students need to think hard and constantly make use of the new
information they have learnt. This makes them active participants in the learning journey
and enables them to better understand the concepts. In this blog, we try to understand
what active learning is and how we can encourage this practice in children, especially in
their early years of education.
Understanding Active Learning
Active learning is a student-centered approach involving problem-based learning or
experiential learning. The idea is to constantly interact and learn with the flow. The simplest
example of this is the small role plays students are asked to do in class to explain a concept
or the moral of a story. Instead of a teacher narrating a story, when students come up with a
small skit themselves, they learn a lot more and the idea remains etched in their minds.
Such play-based learning is actively implemented in Manthan.

2. Exploring through experiments and projects
There are several active learning approaches and a single approach never works for
everyone. So, we need to explore it through different experiments and projects. We can start
small by implementing in-class poll questions. We can conduct quizzes after teaching a
lesson to check students’ understanding of the concept. We can divide students into groups
and encourage them to discuss a certain topic before the lesson is taught in class.
Using Educational Apps and Online Resources
Nowadays, there are a lot of online resources that are available for help. These resources
help teachers and students to experience active learning. The audio-visual medium also
helps children retain attention. We can use educational apps to teach them a concept and
follow it up with small question-and-answer sessions.
Linking Classroom Lessons To Real-Life Scenarios
In early years education, connecting learning topics with real-life examples is the basic yet
most effective way to get students actively engaged in a classroom scenario. An interesting
anecdote can often simplify the explanation of a concept, and students should also be
encouraged to share their own. When we finally connect the dots, the students will learn the
concept and also know how to relate it to real-life scenarios.
Conclusion
Teachers must always evaluate the impact of strategies to ensure that they help children
learn easily. Play-based learning helps students take responsibility for their learning. As
they actively engage in learning something, they construct their knowledge and develop
their skills, which helps their metacognition process, where they develop a critical
awareness about their learning behaviour and can self-evaluate their strengths and
weaknesses as a learner. Such a practice goes a long way in not just improving their learning
abilities but also in shaping a better version of an individual’s personality and improving
their level of confidence.
Manthan’s Approach To Active Learning
At Manthan, a range of effective methods and examples are employed to enhance student
learning. Hands-on activities are utilised by teachers to actively engage students, such as
building solar system models or conducting science experiments. Additionally, students are
involved in project-based learning, providing them with opportunities to apply classroom
knowledge to real-world problems, such as designing robots or creating public service
announcements. Discussions are encouraged, fostering critical thinking and peer learning.
They also focus on in-depth learning of different subjects through activities specifically

3. designed for the subject (Literati for English, Samanvay for Social, Srijan for Math and
Science, Abhilasha for Hindi, etc.) Moreover, Manthan recognises the value of creativity and
self-expression, encouraging students to explore their artistic abilities through activities like
art, music, writing, and more.
How Can Kids Learn Actively?
The flipped classroom approach is effective across all grades and levels. Students are
equipped to study and research concepts, and activity-based learning reinforces them.
Research-based learning increases student interest by requiring group work to examine
and research numerous themes. Before starting the study, groups are divided and
research stages are explained. Students are provided an overview of research processes
before researching a topic utilising books, papers, online tools, etc.
Peer learning is another active learning method. This helps kids appreciate each other’s
perspectives, accept each other’s opinions, and learn from each other. This is used in
addition to classroom instruction.
Some themes are integrated with other disciplines to teach students that no subject can
be studied alone. This sort of active learning teaches pupils to analyse and evaluate
multiple subjects at once.