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Los Angeles Leadership Academy High School

My LALA My Life
Stephanie Rivas
English 12
Nicholas Steed
20 May 2016

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When it comes to learning, students sometimes need more of the experience life can offer rather
than just sitting at a desk and learning from a book. Having hands-on projects can help the students learn
for themselves and depending the project in question, they can help them with the future. This learning
experiences will not only have a great affect on the student, but the passion and enthusiasm to continue to
learn will show and motivate them in achieve a realistic goal.
Hands on projects can open the student to a variety of new techniques and skills. Project
learning, also known as project-based learning, is a dynamic approach to teaching in which students
explore real-world problems and challenges, simultaneously developing cross-curriculum skills while
working in small collaborative groups. (Edutopia, 2008). Project learning can bring most comfort to
many students especially with high school students because of the reason they feel connected to the real
world. In the article by RAFT, Young learners enter kindergarten with a sense of wonder and excitement.
Yet, high school students consistently report feeling disconnected from their schools, their teachers, their
curriculum, and the knowledge they need to be successful in their lives and careers. Hands on learning
is a creative way for students to become independent, hands on learning teaches students to not only work
well with themselves but it is a great way to improve your skills with a group of people ranging from
small groups through big.
Many studies have been made to see if hands on projects can help students in the future. There is
A new study by Purdue University has shed some light on how to most effectively engage students in
technology and engineering at a young age. (Katie, 2009) The test was to have five groups of children be
taught the same thing using different techniques of learning. One group was put in a classroom and was
lectured and giving book work and reading about water purification, while the other group had a hands on
project making a water purification canal. The study showed that the hands on group had a more likely
chance to become a more knowledgeable person in the future. I found this study to be interesting not
only because it supports the idea that hands-on learning is more likely to engage students, but also that it
can actually boost comprehension in certain subjects. Says Katie. B Proving that the experiment did

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work and can be used to support the push on having hands on projects. Not only was this experiment a
success but it is one of many that keep pushing out to schools to make hands on projects a must.
There have been many benefits to why hands on projects are a useful education key as RAFT
shows. There are seven benefits of having hands on projects based by RAFT. One of the benefits would
be that hands on projects develops critical thinking skills. The second would be encourages
communication and builds language skills. The third is that it restores focus and sparks engagement.
Fourth, it provides a path to success for disadvantaged students. Fifth it teaches students teamwork skills,
participation and so on. Sixth, it improves the students teaching experience, which is more for presenting
to a panel of either teachers, peers, or an audience of some sort. Lastly it makes teaching and learning fun
for the student. It gives them motivation to continue working and being eager to learn what is next in the
lesson for them. These benefits are being in use in some schools and little by little it will become part of
every school A university says, People process and absorb information in very different ways,

and Kinesthetic Learners. Approximately 5 percent of the population picks things up through
touch or imitation. Students also thrive on the greater flexibility of project learning. (Edutopia)
For Hands-on activities encourage a lifelong love of learning and motivate students to explore
and discover new things
As students put projects together, create crafts, or use familiar materials in new ways,
they're constructing meaning. "Kids learn through all their senses," says Ben Mardell. When you
combine activities that require movement, talking, and listening, it activates multiple areas of the
brain. "The more parts of your brain you use, the more likely you are to retain information," says
Judy Dodge, (Cleaver, 2016 ) Growing up children need to have hands on projects so they can
help them in the future either in high school or as an adult trying to grab the attention of his or
her boss. Children should be having and education where they get to use their mind and hands at
the same time to grow knowledgeable but to be able to helps other out and stand out from the

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crowd. Hands-on activities let the students' minds grow and learn based on the experiences and
the environment they are exposed to. Students should be encouraged to be creative and to think
outside the box let them know that there is more than one way to get their message across.
This teaching method will bring pride and ownership to their learning experience. When students
have the opportunity to take learning into their own hands, they become proud and motivated to
continue to grow and learn. (Lizardi, 2016)
Hands on projects not only gets the student away from their desk and faces from the
book, but it brings creativity and encouragement to be able to connect to the real world and be
prepared for what is coming. Let more innovative and creative ways to learn is beneficial to the
student. Having hands on projects can allow the students to be more enthusiastic about school.
I recommend to have hands on projects to be mandatory thing at school starting from
kindergarten all the way to senior year in high. Having personal experience with hands on
experience, it not only allows the student to become wiser but it helps in the future when it
comes to finding and receiving a job. I personally learned many things with hands on projects.
For one it is never easy if youre working on something because you have to think and create
your project from scratch and once you have it figured out, you have to make it come alive and
that takes patience, focus, motivation, but it encourages you because you get out of a cycle where
you learn something and never apply it in real life. It teaches you that with a little hard work by
yourself and with a group you can do more than a book can ever teach you.
Work Cited

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Ash, Katie. "Hands-On Learning and. Lecturing." Education Week. Digital
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Education, 30 Jan. `

2009. Web. 21 May 2016.

Biggs, Maria. "Bridging the Engagement Gap with Hands-On Teaching."

Resource Area For `
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Teaching (n.d.): n. pag. Feb. 2013. Web. 20 May
2016.
"Case for Hands-on Learning." Case for Hands-on Learning. RAFT, Feb. 2013. Web. 21 May 2016.
Cleaver, Samantha. "Hands-On Is Minds-On." Scholastic Publishes Literacy Resources and Children's `
Books for Kids of All Ages. Fiskars, n.d. Web. 21 May 2016.
Lizards, Rosa. "Hands-On Activities." Home. Coloring Colorado, n.d. Web.
"Parents." Lake Superior State University. Lake Superior State University,
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20 May 2016.
May 2006. Web. 20 May `

2016.

"Why Teach with Project-Based Learning?: Providing Students With a Well- Rounded Classroom `
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Experience." Edutopia. Edutopia, 28 Feb. 2008.

Web. 21 May 2016