Throughout term four our class have been learning about animals and plants. I decided that we needed to have a lot of hands-on-learning activities to be successful. We were!!
Benefits of Hands-on-Learning
Hands-on learning is knowledge students gain when they are actively engaged in a subject they are learning, rather than receiving the information through lectures and books.
- More learning is retained. Studies show that children who listen intently and passively retain 20% of learning. This increases to 75% when the students practice what they are learning in a hands-on approach.
- Students are more likely to feel engaged and empowered with their learning.
- Hands-on learning creates critical thinking skills as students are required to think, decide and act to achieve the desired outcomes.
- Students have opportunities to increase their teamwork and problem-solving skills.
Over the term we have:
- Explored the life stages of a butterfly.
- Understood that living things grow and have similar offspring to themselves
- Recognised the characteristics of living things include growing, moving and reproducing.
- Represented our personal growth and changes from birth to now.
Riley: “I really enjoyed showing my photos of butterflies and talking about my personal experiences with the butterfly lifecycle.”
Nature Education Centre Incursion
We were extremely lucky to have Alex our Australian native animal expert come in and visit us.
He provided our class with valuable hands-on learning experiences with snakes, frogs, lizards, bettongs and insects. Together we discussed, touched and explored the special features, habitats and life cycles of various animals and mini beasts.
Alex also trusted us to look after ‘Squid’ a blue tongue lizard for a few weeks. We understood that this would be a positive experience as we could touch him, feed him and give him loads of love and attention.
Marley: “I thought the Children’s python was cute and adorable. He felt cold and smooth”.
Elliot: “I was surprised Alex bought a python. We are lucky”.
Beau: “Touching the shingleback lizard was my favourite part. It was smooth and bumpy”.
Ted: “I really liked the frog. It was camouflaged on a huge leaf. The frog was so shiny and green”.
Adelaide Zoo excursion
Our class were very fortunate to visit the Adelaide Zoo with Mrs. Sanders 4/5’s and Miss Orrin’s 2/3’s. It was beautiful and sunny day and the animals put on a show for us. The Giant Pandas were eating bamboo. The meerkats were very entertaining, and the Monkeys were ‘monkeying around’. The staff and volunteers were impressed with our school and the types of questions our students were asking.
Summer: “I liked learning about the dangerous animals like lions.”
Nathan: “The meerkats and otters were so cute. I was surprised by the bird show because the birds flew right above my head”.
Jaicee: “I learnt that there are so many animals in the world. I loved seeing the meerkats and penguins playing at the zoo”.
Alysha: “The tiger had beautiful stripes, a long tail and big whiskers’.
Liam: “My favourite thing at the zoo was feeding the naughty goats and making them go up the ramp”.
I hope our students have had a memorable science term and have valued their time learning about our animal and plant kingdom.
