Hi there. In this education post, I would like to talk about online learning and the lack of hands on learning.
Online Learning During Lockdown
Under lockdown policies, online learning is widely used in schools and with education providers. A lot of screen watching is going on which is not great for the eyes. Information that is transmitted is through the internet instead of physical blackboards, whiteboards and screen projectors.
Hands On Learning Is Not As Common
As learning is done online, there would be less hands on learning. Hands on learning activities such as science labs, cooking classes, manufacturing classes, physical education classes can still be run. Those activities would have smaller class sizes due to fears of the virus, capacity restrictions and other policies.
Hands on learning is not completely eliminated. It can be done on an individual level outside of traditional schools with the use of Youtube guides. This does assume that the learner has the necessary equipment for learning. Equipment would include cooking tools and stoves, fitness equipment, paper and scissors. I would not recommend doing hands on learning with equipment such as construction tools as safety and risks are involved.
No Science Labs Under Lockdown
Before I got into mathematics and some finance, I did like science, labs and experiments when I was school. I do feel bad for the current students right now in the sciences. Under lockdown measures, students are learning online and are not in the classrooms to use lab equipment and tools for science investigations. Science learning would be limited to mainly theory from textbooks for the mean time. Learning from hands on science experiments is not possible as students are not in the classroom. This is a missed learning opportunity for students as students could use lab experience before moving to higher level science courses.
Being Graded On Theory Mainly
As hands on learning is not really available, learning and grading is based on textbooks, tests and maybe some written/typed assignments. Grades in this case would be a short-term measure on how well someone digests theory, complete tasks and/or how well someone performs on tests. With online classes, there are students who will take advantage of this situation and cheat. The topic of cheating would be for a future post perhaps.
Grades in this case would not really measure how well someone is on hands-on projects. This does not favour tactile learners who work well with their hands or prefer to do versus think.
