“Learning by doing” applies to future teachers as well as their pupils, some education majors at West Liberty University have discovered.
Marshall County schoolchildren visited the hilltop campus recently to participate in fun and educational activities, many of which were designed by the WLU students. In the process, the future educators learned more about the teaching process and interacting with children than they could in their college classrooms alone.
On a rainy late October day around 60 energetic fifth-graders arrived at Main Hall, where they were put into groups to work on four projects: the “survivors” exercise taught the children about weights and mathematics as they pretended to be panthers gathering just the right amount of food to survive; the rainbow word game used acrostics to teach vocabulary and spelling; fun math game applications were downloaded onto iPads for the children to try; and the children learned how materials interact as they mixed up batches of a Silly Putty-like substance.
After the classroom experience, they traveled to the ASRC for some autumn- and Hallowe’en-themed physical activity designed to show that exercise can be fun. Physical education instructor Kathleen Wack and members of the team sports class led the children in a strenuous game of “Ghostbusters tag” and other activities teaching football, basketball, volleyball and soccer skills.
“It’s wonderful to expose the fifth-graders so early to West Liberty and college as a goal. It makes it real for them. It’s also a great opportunity for the physical education majors to put what they’ve learned here into practice with children,” Wack said.
Senior education major Julie Dally said guiding the children in such hands-on learning activities offers invaluable training for the college students. “We gain experience in working with children, with classroom management and group management. And the kids are having a great time, too.”
Associate professor Judy Stechly said, “We left it to the students to decide what they wanted to do with the fifth-graders and they came up with the ideas for the learning activities. They also created treat bags for the children.”
She explained that the WLU students were in the methods and materials block of the elementary education curriculum and will be student teaching next semester.
Charlotte Steed, a teacher at Washington Lands Elementary School, said the visit to WLU was a great experience for the children.
“They get a feel of what college is like. Most of them don’t realize it’s so big. Learning through fun activities also is something that will stick with them,” Steed said.
Earlier in the month, WLU’s College of Education hosted 70 eighth-grade students from Marshall County’s Sherrard Middle School. They visited the EDUC 290 Computer and Instructional Technology class and had the opportunity to learn about the virtual reality computer programs Second Life and Voki.
WLU education students ensured that all safety protocols were followed in using the online programs, Prof. Li-Wei Peng noted. “The pre-service teachers explained the educational purpose of using Second Life to the students, clarified the safety rules of using Second Life to the students and demonstrated the proper use of the program. They kept usernames and access passwords secure,” she said.
“The WLU students set up the targeted destinations when the eighth-graders accessed Second Life and set up the avatars with the appropriate appearance, e.g., costumes. Finally, they were monitored at all times by the Sherrard Middle School teacher and me while online.”
The virtual worlds visited included a NASA education center, Paris, Africa, Mundo Beach and an amusement park.
Future educators of the EDUC 290 class appreciated the opportunity to apply their classroom lessons to teaching actual children.
Christopher Bittinger said, “I took my eighth graders to Paris. They were interested in the idea of traveling all over the world while sitting in class. I enjoyed teaching the students how to use the technology.”
Angel Hill added, “I personally enjoyed interacting with the middle school students. On Second Life, I took them to Mundo beach and had them flying and walking under water. I also showed them Voki. We created an avatar and made it talk in a background of our choosing.”
Part of the learning experience for the Marshall County schoolchildren was seeing what a real college campus looks like, WLU student Tabitha Ezell observed.
Arianne Leonard spoke for many of her fellow WLU College of Education students when she concluded, “I think it was a great opportunity for both the students and me. We all learned something new that we can use in the future.”