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With the pandemic going on and most students being in a virtual learning environment, my question is how can we make learning for students more engaging? I have a 4-year-old niece who is currently doing virtual learning and I notice she becomes very distracted and is not very engaged when doing online school. Are there any tips you can provide to help with keeping the students engaged?

Here are some tips to help keep your students more engaged:

• Take your students on virtual field trips. Many zoos and aquiriams have live webcams that you can use to show your students a tour of different animals in their habitats.
• Ask your students questions. This will make the lesson more interactive.
• Plan fun activities and virtual experiments. You can use virtual learning games and apps, or you can find creative ways to utilize simple resources that your students already have. Regardless, it is much easier for students to focus when they are part of the activity instead of simply watching it.
• Give your students small breaks. It is hard for students to stay focused for more than 15 minutes. Therefore, turn on some fun music and have your students dance or do some type of physical activity that will help to refocus their minds.

Students are becoming technologically advanced by the second, but at times it can be for a personal reason rather than educative ones. Some ways to keep them active and progressively engaged is by provided hands-on activities even if they are on the other side of the screen. Give them breaks from just looking at the screen some times students will only stay truly focused for a few minutes before they start to wander off. Maybe add some music have them get up and stretch, they will be tired when they come back from lunch!