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What if we took exams out of the equation, would students be as motivated to learn? Here are three ways for parents and teachers to start making learning meaningful for children at home and at school. Meaning motivates learning!

There have been mixed reactions since breaking news of cancelled UPSR and PT3 examinations. Students are relieved, teachers are concerned and parents are waiting for news of what’s next.

“It’s frustrating, but we look at the bright side. This is about our children’s safety and health. I will just let my children study at home like what they have been doing since the MCO (movement control order). They can do activities from previous examination questions.”

Since then, the debate about the role exams play in Malaysia and the new norm to instil a love for learning has been the topic of discussion.

Exams play a huge role in our education system and for many students, the reason why they work so hard is to do well and get good grades. What if we took exams out of the equation, will students be as motivated to learn?

The alternative to exams when learning remotely

Image by Ben Mullins

Students need to first understand the purpose of learning before they can fully grasp what they are about to learn. They need to be guided in their learning goals and this calls for a more creative approach to encourage students to learn from home.

One of the challenges for students when learning from home is the distraction that comes from not being in a classroom.

We encourage teachers to rethink how lessons are taught and we recommend keeping lessons simple, fun, and quick with FrogSchool lessons!

1. Keep learning goals simple

When we study for an exam, the amount of information students need to learn can be overwhelming.

Image by Mask Mediacorp

To help students achieve more meaningful learning, a great way is to keep learning goals simple and minimal. For example, if a student is learning about the science of soap, instead of focusing on how well a student is able to remember technical terms and formulas, shift the focus to how it translates to something more tangible, like learning how soap reacts to water instead.

This brings us to our next point...

2. Learning happens through fun activities

To instil a love for learning is unrealistic if we focus on how well a student is able to regurgitate facts. Encouraging students to be more physically involved in their lessons is a better way to engage the ‘why’ and ‘how’ when learning.

An example of the type of experiments teachers can encourage students to do at home is taken from a FrogSchool lesson.

3. Assess through quizzes

Image by Jessica Lewis

Even though exams are cancelled, it doesn’t mean that teachers and parents can’t monitor student progress. To encourage learning from home also means to assess if students understand what they’re learning.

A great way for teachers and parents to quickly assess student understanding is to introduce more low-stake questions. For example, instead of preparing short answer questions or essays, we recommend using online quizzes to your advantage. Not only is this a quicker way to find out if students are understanding the learning concepts, it produces quick feedback on where they can improve as well!

FrogSchool lessons make it easy for busy parents to monitor student learning from home!

There are many FrogSchool lessons that are simple, fun and quick! They are simple for students to understand and easy for you to help guide them through their lessons for the day. We understand that there’s a lot to do and we’re here to help busy parents to help their child learn from home!

Explore the full range of FrogSchool lessons here.

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