Not every student thrives in a traditional classroom setting. For students struggling in a traditional learning environment, hands-on learning can be a productive alternative, one that is often a more suitable way for students to learn. Virginia’s Community Colleges’ recognizes these learning differences, and so its FastForward program offers a range of hands-on learning experiences that engage students in unique ways that help develop useful skills.
Some benefits of hands-on learning include:
Increased Engagement. According to a Harvard study, “active learning” helps students learn better by engaging them physically. When students are in-person working with their hands, they are more likely to be actively engaged with the material they are learning.
For example, in a Fiber Optics class, wiring samples are provided to students as a tangible, hands-on representation of what data centers across Virginia look like. This practical scenario allows them to work with the material as they learn about it.
Information Retention. It can sometimes be easy to forget the information you learned in a three-hour lecture sitting in a classroom. Conversely, when learning in an interactive, hands-on environment, you are more likely to retain the information being presented.
Completing projects with your hands and being in a social setting provides a more practical environment for engaging with the content being taught. Research tells us that such settings increase learning retention (National Library of Medicine).
The importance of hands-on learning also can be found in the healthcare industry. Properly caring for a patient means studying the sciences, anatomy, and more. But to get a more well-rounded understanding of the material, working through hands-on healthcare simulations helps students better understand and retain what is being taught.
Development of Soft Skills. Some skills simply cannot be learned in a traditional or online learning environment. In-person, hands-on learning puts theoretical knowledge into practice by practicing soft skills (e.g. communication, teamwork, problem solving) in a real-world setting.
One practical example is FastForward’s Commercial Driving Licensure (CDL) training, which begins on a driving simulator. Once the basic skills are established, CDL students move outdoors to work hands-on with trucks, engines, and other machinery in order to gain the skills that cannot be acquired in a classroom environment.
Encourages Creativity. When working on a project in-person with your hands, it is encouraging to see the project coming together in real time. Hands-on learning inspires students to experiment, take risks, and think about things differently. Students learn how to be resourceful and inventive, especially when things don’t go as planned.
Students in FastForward’s HVAC program work on HVAC machines in real time to get the best understanding of the machinery. And because things can sometimes go awry, hands-on learning requires students to use creative problem solving to fix the issue.
Interested in exploring the hands-on learning opportunities FastForward offers? Contact your local career coach by filling out the form below.