In Montessori education, children learn best by using their hands. The children use concrete, hands-on resources to help them understand new concepts. This approach is particularly suited to early learners, who thrive when given the opportunity to manipulate materials and explore ideas through direct real-world experience. For our young students, hands-on education offers several definite benefits that lead to deeper understanding and retention.
There’s heaps of research supporting this view.
Students retain more information when they actively engage in the learning process. According to the Peak Performance Center, learners remember up to 75% of what they practice by doing, compared to just 5% from passive traditional learning methods like lectures. This evidence shows that active participation is the key to learning success, especially in early childhood education.
There’s a lot of theoretical knowledge in this area. Educational theorists and researchers consistently highlight the importance of hands-on methods for optimal cognitive development. Studies such as Ekwueme, Ekon, and Ezenwa-Nebife’s research on hands-on learning in science and math demonstrate that students who engage in active, experiential learning consistently perform better and retain more knowledge compared to those who rely solely on traditional methods like rote learning.
By using active, tactile experiences in your classroom, you’re helping your children grasp concepts faster and ensuring long-term understanding – learning that sticks! If you want to improve your students’ retention rate hands-on learning is a great way to do it.
What is Better: Rote Learning or Hands-on Learning?
Many educators still rely on rote learning techniques to drill facts and information. But is this truly effective for our young learners?
In a traditional lecture-style environment, if you are lucky, students may be passively absorbing some information, but are they truly engaged? Are they thinking and learning?
The problem with rote learning, especially in early childhood education, is that it often lacks the depth and meaningful connection that hands-on, experiential learning provides.
Hands-on learning offers a number of benefits over rote learning, such as
When students actively engage with materials and have opportunities for investigative learning, they are practising by doing—one of the most effective methods of study.
This type of educational experience encourages children to move information from short-term to long-term memory, making the acquisition of knowledge more personal and meaningful.
From my personal experience in the classroom, I’ve seen firsthand the stark difference between these two approaches.
I remember during a math lesson on addition, for example, I gathered the students at the carpet area to explicitly teach them. It didn’t take long before I saw kids fiddling with nearby blocks, rolling around, and then I got a completely off-topic comment, “My mum likes coffee.”
This kind of distraction seemed to happen regularly during explicit lessons. Something magical occurred when we transitioned to a hands-on activity using manipulatives to physically model addition. The students were engaged, on task, and focused.
Why is this?
The main reasons are that hands-on learning creates safe spaces for children to explore, experiment, and apply their understanding in ways that are personally meaningful.
It turns abstract concepts into tangible experiences, allowing young students to gain important skills while at the same time making learning fun and interactive.
Don’t get me wrong – direct instruction, such as in the example above, certainly has its place in any curriculum-oriented classroom. It’s necessary for teaching specific skills and knowledge.
However, the real magic happens in hands-on learning. It’s through experiential activities that children not only practice the skills they learn but also explore and apply them in creative and engaging ways. This combination leads to a deeper understanding of the curriculum, greater retention, and better recall.
If you’re ready to see your students thrive, implement more hands-on learning activities! A more interactive approach is the proven way to create more meaningful and impactful educational experiences in your classroom.
The 7 Benefits of Hands-on Learning
Hands-on learning offers a number of definite benefits for young children, making it one of the most effective ways to foster engagement, retention, and skill development.
Let’s explore these benefits in detail with some of my real-life classroom examples, supporting research, and relevant products and resources.
1. Improves Memory so Students Retain More
Hands-on learning significantly enhances memory retention by engaging multiple senses and providing context to the learning experience.
According to the National Training Laboratories, students retain 75% of what they learn when they practice it and 90% when they use that knowledge immediately. A hands-on approach helps students grasp abstract concepts more effectively, turning these concepts into long-term knowledge.
To summarise: learners retain approximately:
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90% of what they learn when they teach someone else/use immediately.
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75% of what they learn when they practice what they learned.
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50% of what they learn when engaged in a group discussion.
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30% of what they learn when they see a demonstration.
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20% of what they learn from audio-visual.
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10% of what they learn when they’ve learned from reading.
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5% of what they learn when they’ve learned from lecture.