Interactive activities are a powerful way to build critical thinking skills. Critical thinking is evaluating something and making a conclusion from what you observed. Experiential learning is the perfect method for building this skill because your brain is drawing conclusions as you participate and think about the activity.
One way to incorporate this in class is by asking an open-ended question. The question/problem could be: Time has just been taken away from the world. How would humans function without time? If students are analyzing this question in groups, then they will combine each other’s thoughts and form a conclusion.
This question will allow them to think about their daily routines within their families and environment and answer accordingly. This also encourages students to think about the importance of time. Now let’s make this an interactive activity.
- Break students up in to groups of 3 or 4.
- Cover all the clocks in the classroom.
- Put everyone’s cell phone and watches into a box or a safe place.
- Put away anything that keeps time like computers.
- Tell students they will answer the question/problem: Time has just been taken away from the world. How would humans function without time?
- Have students create a commercial that gives the world tips on how they can function without time.
- Have each group perform the commercial for the class.
