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What are some fun experiements you can try when teaching elementary to keep the students engaged? how can I keep them engaged when a topic does not get their attention?
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To agree with the other reponses, hands-on activities I believe are best for students. Doing things that will keep them entertained would be best for them because they will be enjoying what they are doing and hopfully learning things in the process. Yet there are students that may need other activites that would get their attention. Getting to know the students and what best works for them would be best in order to figure out which topics and experiments would best fit each student.
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Hello, Erica.
I agree with the rest of thr responses, I do believe that in order to keep a student engaged to a topic in which they don't find much intrest would be by getting them into hands on activities. When they have this type of learning you engage them more and get their attention and are able to learn the material.
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Of course hands-on labs always motivate and engage students, but I know that isn't always feasible for every topic and also is not realistic every single day. Have you tried using a video clip, photograph or picture book to help hook or engage students on a topic? Our county has bought us Picture Perfect Science Books. This resource provides a suggestion of a picture book as a hook and then follows up with a 5-E lesson. Our school has also bought us a subscription to Mystery Science. I love how the lessons engage students and also how they provided appropriate follow-up texts.
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Like mentioned above by Michelle Franko doing hands-on always motivates students, but we all know that it is not always possible. I believe engaging them in different hands on activities for example a game base on the lesson you are teaching. I also recommend using different type of videos that will get the student familiar with the lesson.
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In order to avoid losing a student's interest, firstly, it is important to initiate the lesson with something that will 'wow' them. A child needs to be interested because if you lose them in the beginning then there's no going back. It is important to adapt to your students specific interests- make the lesson relatable. As far as specific experiments, I think the egg drop experiment works well with elementary students since they'll get introduced to physics in more depth in their later years, but this way they'll be exposed to it early. Another classic is making icecream in a bag. I've seen this done in highschools too, but it works for fourth or fifth graders as long as they have mittens on to protect their hands from the cold. There are websites such as sciencebob.com that have plenty of fun examples for elementary kids.
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I agree, hands-on activities will keep ther students engaged. Getting to know the students individually will also help to figure out what activities is best for the students.
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