Themes for active learning

When we engage children in learning that revolves around a particular topic or project, and that requires several phases, we often are engaging them in "thematic activities."

Thematic activities offer opportunities for children to use their skills and intellects to bring together different facts, to research and explore, and to achieve goals.

Examples of some thematic activities include:

A teacher begins by reading the story of a caterpillar or other small creature from a book of animal tales. Outside, on a simple field visit, she then guides small groups in collecting samples of leaves, flowers, insects, and other materials from their community's environment. She then asks them to draw pictures and write descriptions of specific objects or places. An expert from the community visits the class to help identify the different plants that have been collected, helping the class to build a collection with a catalogue. At the end of the project, each child writes and illustrates an imaginative story depicting the adventures of an insect in their local environment.

A fifth-grade teacher prepares his class for the celebration of your country's national day. First, he invites his class to list everything they know about that date and the events surrounding it, and to talk about why the event is important. He then guides small groups in researching historic characters and events in text books and in discussing this history with adults in their families and neighbourhoods. The groups write and rehearse short historic scenes based on their research. On the day of the performances, members of the children's families bring special clothing and other items from that were used in past times, and talk about the history of the items, how they were made, and how they were worn or used. Then the groups perform their scenes for all to see.

In these examples, we can observe that each teacher:

• sets the stage for learning, by reading a story or inviting children to talk about what they already know

• guides children in learning, in these cases by creating opportunities for research

• invites the community to participate as experts or the bearers of special information

• asks the children to create something based on their learning

However, there are many different ways to design thematic activities. They may span entire school terms, and involve growing plants or observing birds. They may be as brief as one day, and involve preparing for a field visit to a local printer, going on the visit, and writing reports.

For more information, refer to Teaching styles for active learning, Learning from each other, Learning and the community, and the Vietnam Multigrade Teaching Handbook.

Journal activity: Dreaming on one theme

Create a list of learning activities that you can link to a single theme. Start by selecting one theme. It could be a special day, or a field visit, or something from the curriculum that your children already enjoy, such as a unit on the solar system, or a particular story. Pick something you're interested in or that you enjoy teaching - you can always try this activity again with another topic.

Now list activities that connect to this theme. If you were a fourth-grade teacher and you chose as your theme a curriculum unit on clean water for example, you might list a story about a great river, study of the mechanics of a hand-pump or tube well, an experiment on the growth of algae, and a song about clean and dirty water. You might invite a doctor or nurse to speak to the class. And you might imagine a final project that presents the cycle of water from sea to sky to earth as a puppet show.

Try to list at least three items in each category that pertain to your theme:

• activities to elicit what children know, such as making a list or asking children to talk about a topic

• lessons that can relate to the theme, such as learning volume measurements in mathematics

• resources available in the school, such as books, posters, or a map that shows the oceans

• resources available in the local environment, such as a creek or pond, a well, an excavation that shows the layers of the earth that make well water pure

• active ways to learn about resources, such as researching, collecting or mapping

• people who can act as resources, such as a fisherman or a farmer, a health specialist, or an older person who remembers a famous storm or flood

When you've listed all the resources, lessons, and activities that you can, list at least three different ways that the children can make use of what they've learned in a final presentation or project. Such projects could culminate in written reports, presentation to the class, making posters or stories, staging dramatic scenes, and many other means of expression.

When you've finished your list, post it to the Teachers Talking Forum, if you wish, to see if other teachers can build off of your ideas.