Amanda McGee 
Table of Contents
Imagine you are learning to bake a cake or build a classic car. Would you rather read about it or assemble the components and do it yourself?
When we experience things first-hand, our brains light up in ways they don’t when we passively receive information.
Aligning with How the Brain Naturally Works
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to adapt and change due to learning, experience, or other factors. When we learn something new, we build new or stronger neural connections. The more we practice or repeat what we have learned, the stronger and faster these neural pathways become.
Hands-on learning is a fast track to building neural pathways. By allowing students to touch, build, create, investigate, explore, discuss, and problem-solve, their brains build stronger and more numerous pathways. Learning by doing, instead of just hearing or reading about something, results in deeper learning.
It also makes learning stick. The more ways that a student learns something — e.g., using multiple senses instead of just one — the more chances the brain has to hold onto and remember that. In addition, when students can see how new content relates to previous content they’ve learned or how it relates to their lives, they generate greater brain activity.
The brain likes variety as well. According to the American Psychological Association, “A healthy brain likes to learn, and children learn best when they are exposed to a variety of ideas, experiences, skills and materials.”
Engaging Students in Hands-on STEM Learning
When students participate in STEM in a variety of ways, their brains are not only more active, but learning is more fun, too.
There are countless ways to support hands-on STEM learning in the classroom. Here are a few:
Experiments and Observations
Conducting experiments and making and recording observations are fundamental activities in a variety of STEM fields. They can also be helpful when introducing new ideas to students, illustrating abstract concepts, or clarifying challenging concepts.
When students create and test hypotheses, they find answers to questions that intrigue them. As they try things out and gather information first-hand — e.g., mixing chemicals in a test tube — they produce new knowledge. Even as they make mistakes and figure out how to fix them, they are forming stronger memories and increasing their understanding. All of this helps them understand the world around them more profoundly.
Models and Simulations
For concepts that can’t be directly observed, building models and conducting simulations can help students visualize and grasp complex ideas.
- Building a clay volcano model helps students learn about forces within the earth, how different types of volcanoes vary in appearance and eruptions, and how volcanoes can impact the environment around them.
- Creating a DNA strand with candy — using different colors to represent adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine — helps students learn about the double helix structure of DNA and how the four chemicals pair up in specific ways.
- Online simulations can illustrate topics like energy and electric currents, give students practice constructing circuits, and help them explore the differences between conductors and insulators.
Physical and Digital Materials
Manipulating hands-on materials can also simplify the complex and make STEM more tangible.
- With fraction tiles, students can piece together parts and see how they make a whole.
- Colored algebra tiles can be used to represent different values to help students visualize and solve equations.
Digital tools, too, can illustrate concepts in dynamic ways and allow students to manipulate and understand various kinds of data.
- Plotting software allows students to see how changing one variable instantly impacts a graph.
- PhET interactive simulations provide virtual labs that give students a chance to learn about topics that would be challenging to replicate through hands-on models, such as working with atomic interactions or manipulating gravity and orbits.
Teacher Feedback
Providing feedback during hands-on activities can also benefit students’ learning. It can help keep them motivated to reach their goals, even when they encounter obstacles and setbacks. It can inspire them to think differently or try a different problem-solving strategy without letting the struggle frustrate or overwhelm them to the point where it interferes with their learning.
Improving Academic Performance
Research shows that engaging students through active learning — e.g., hands-on activities, discussions, feedback, and interactive technologies — improves academic performance compared to traditional lectures, lessons, or readings.
Hands-on learning helps students tap into their prior knowledge and recognize the connection between what they have already learned and the new material being taught. Engaging with subject material to solve a problem or create something helps them apply the knowledge and skills they are learning. When students are up and moving, their minds become more alert. When they engage with their minds and their hands, they are more focused and motivated to learn.
In addition to deepening learning and making memories stick, hands-on learning gives students the opportunity to take ownership and demonstrate their knowledge and skills. It also gives teachers formative assessment information they can use to adjust their instruction or clarify misconceptions.
Building Future-Ready Skills
Hands-on learning is a powerful way to help students build future-ready skills. Activities that incorporate real-world problems and interactions can help them develop skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, collaboration, and communication skills, among others.
When students actively work through a challenging problem or idea, they see that learning is a process and that success doesn’t always come on the first try. If they miscalculate or an experiment fails, they see that it’s okay because they can learn from it and adjust accordingly. When they try, fail, and try again, they develop grit, which can boost lifelong learning.
Hands-on learning puts STEM into context and bridges the gap between theory and practice. It boosts students’ interest and abilities, which can open the door to STEM careers, particularly for underrepresented populations. It helps students develop the mindset and the skills to adapt, improve, and evolve, which prepares them for life in a rapidly changing world.
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