Activity-based learning

[Karen96]

The questions on the TAAS (Texas Assessment of Academic Skills) test intended for Texas classrooms have not yet been fully adapted to the new TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) standards of education. As the tests are adjusted to measure academic achievement according to these new standards, students’ dropout levels could go up down unless Texas Teachers are able to help bring the students up to these new levels of performance expectations.

Texas Teachers are of the opinion that students tend to retain more when learning by doing. Activity-based learning, both in the classroom and outside can counter poor academic performance by offering another way of learning. Through these alternative ways of learning, students can be shown new and creative ways to solve problems and become successful.

Some recommendations by Texas Teachers for dropout prevention include:

• Boost student interest in the learning process rather than placing students in separate programs.
• Include students in the educational decision making process.
• Foster a sense of "membership" in the school.
• Provide school-wide alternatives to tracking, grade retention, suspension, and expulsion.
• Provide meaningful opportunities to serve and improve their communities.
• Apply academic principles in their service, thereby countering the negative emotional effects of poor academic performance.
• Have Texas Teachers use multiple teaching approaches including activities that allow students to retain information in non-traditional ways.
• Provide opportunities for students to perform community service in which concepts learned in the classroom are put into practice.