Innovative Teaching Ideas

According to Behavioral Sciences professor Marvin Barthel a member of art faculty in Goshen College from 1970 to 2002, students learn best through imitation. A teacher should, for this reason, come up with creative teaching ideas for the students to grasp complex topics, especially when teaching subjects that they may find difficult such as mathematics and sciences. There are a number of innovative teaching methods that teachers can put into practice to improve their students' performance.
  1. Use of Technology

    • Social sites such as Facebook help students collaborate among themselves, teachers and parents. This enhances the students' learning capacity as they are able to get an answer, or an opinion, to a specific problem from different people. A teacher can set up a Facebook page for the class to enable students extend their discussions after school hours.

    Using of Familiar Objects

    • When teaching new math concepts such as Fibonacci numbers or golden ratio use familiar objects such as flower petals or seed heads to illustrate your lessons. The use of natural objects gives the students the opportunity to understand how math is a part of the natural world and makes the lesson interesting. This idea is also appropriate for other subjects, such as art or science as it boosts students' creativity.

    Humor and Stories

    • According to Randy Garner, professor of Behavioral Sciences at Sam Houston State University, humor is a powerful, innovative teaching technique because it motivates the students' imagination and makes them curious about the concepts a teacher is imparting to them. Humor is especially suitable when a teacher wants to explain a concept using a story. For example, fables such as "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" by Aesop are appropriate for teaching topics aimed at instilling human virtues such integrity and diligence in students. Telling such stories in a humorous way engages the students attention in a way that silent reading would not accomplish.

    Math Games

    • Teachers can use innovative games to enable young children learn subjects such as mathematics. For example, a teacher can divide the class into two groups and give the first group egg cartons to label each section. The second group is given jelly beans. The players roll dice to determine who plays first. The player with lowest number on the dice starts. Each time a player cast the dice, he adds the number he got on the previous cast, his partner with the egg carton then looks for the total number on the egg carton and places a jelly bean on the number.

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