Pelajar belajar melalui aktiviti yang berfokus dan intensif dalam satu tempoh masa seperti menghadiri seminar, bengkel, mengendalikan projek, sesi hands-on, activity-based learning dan do-it yourself programmes. Pelajar boleh mengambil inisiatif dalam mengatur dan memilih latihan, kerja amali di dalam makmal dan aktiviti di lapangan.
Table Showing Classroom Environment and Teaching Strategies
Teacher as Mentor and Model
Teacher as Coach or Facilitator
Student-centred
Outside-context Learning strategies
Teacher provides students with goals, options for execution
Field activities and labs arranged by teacher
Joint goal setting between students and teachers
Students expected to take initiative in selecting field exercises and lab options
Students develop problems and solutions jointly with teacher
Field activities and labs arranged by students
Field Trips and Other Out-of-the-Classroom Excursions
Learning is enhanced in the context that best gives meaning to the concepts, skills, processes and values being taught. Learning experiences that take place in the community's museums, streets,
industries and natural environments address the diverse learning styles of the students, enhance motivation and connect classroom learning to the real world.
For learning experiences outside of the classroom to be authentic and meaningful, teachers must plan and organize carefully.
Educational excursions beyond the boundaries of the regular classroom are intended to add meaning, vitality and interest to regular classroom experiences. They might be planned as motivating events to stimulate interest in a certain concept or topic. They may serve as first-hand research about an area already under study, or they may culminate a unit of study. These excursions encourage students to become active learners, and provide a way of relating theoretical study to practical problems and the real world, enriching the learning experience.
Local communities provide a wealth of resources for learning a variety of concepts. For example:
• Places in the community such as hospitals, offices, bakeries and grain elevators provide students with first-hand experience in knowing what people in a community do and how different businesses are conducted.
• Visits to Town/City/Band Hall or the Provincial Legislature contribute to students' understanding of municipal or provincial political structures and processes.
• Cultural venues such as museums, art galleries and theatres enhance students' cultural and historical understandings and perceptions.
• The natural environments of communities differ; however, forays into nature help students to recognize the relationship between humans and the environment. When students see, first-hand, how humans affect the environment and how humans depend on the environment, they come to recognize the need for such concepts as sustainable development.
Some guidelines for planning and conducting out-of-classroom learning experiences include:
Prior to the Excursion
• Identify the purpose(s) for the excursion. How does it connect to what students are learning and doing in the classroom?
• Select the curriculum objectives that students will achieve through the excursion.
• Prepare students for the experience by activating and building their prior knowledge (e.g., concepts, cultural or historical context).
• Involve students in planning the excursion (e.g., develop questions for people they will encounter, choose activities, decide how processes and products will be assessed, contact resource personnel and make arrangements for the visit).
• Develop the activities that the students will engage in during the excursion.
• Develop the assessment strategies and templates that will be used during and following the excursion.
During the Excursion
• Observe students' experiences and keep records of their activities based on the assessment strategies and tools previously developed.
• Monitor students' experiences, building instructional scaffolds as needed to enhance their learning.
Following the Excursion
• Have students reflect on their experiences through writing and discussion.
• Have students demonstrate their learning by creating products that are useful and that reflect their learning (e.g., a collection of oral histories based on interviews with Aboriginal Elders or WW II veterans, a biography of an artist including reproductions of his/her work, a field guide to a local marshland).
• Involve students in self-assessment and goal setting for subsequent excursions.
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