Discover innovative teaching methods to improve student’s engagement and motivation!

Sometimes engaging students could be a complex challenge, for this reason, innovative strategies can be a crucial resource to encourage and improve their learning. Thanks to various kinds of studies and analyses, today many tools can be used in the school environment: project-based learning, non-formal education, outdoor education, and ICT are some of the many options that can be integrated with conventional teaching methods.

The new edition of the course “Innovative teaching methods for teachers, school and adult education staff​” took place in Palermo from 28/01/2024 to 03/02/2024. The participants came from all across Europe, with Jekaterina and Anna from Tallinn High School of Humanities in Estonia, Feryel from Holmestrand adultschool in Norway, Ennio from Collège François Truffaut Longué in France, Charalampos and Artemisia from SECOND CHANCE SCHOOL OF KILKIS in Greece and Edgars from MIKC DDMV "Saules skola" in Latvia

We started the course talking about the power of Non-Formal Education through visual strategies and teambuilding games and, starting from the activities, we explored Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and analysed the process divided into reflection, conceptualization and application, so that the student can have an active role during the learning process.  We also introduced the world of Gamification exploring the principles, possibilities, apps and tools that can allow participants to address today’s education challenges and adapt the learning process to students’ needs and profiles.

Another important topic of the course was Project Based Learning, an effective method for students to explore directly and meaningfully different contents, starting from a topic question and trying to investigate real-world issues. By analysing the principles of PBL, the participants could discover how teamwork, cooperation, and creativity can help students find a way to deal with real problems, learning strategically and searching for the answers from the start. During this week we also examined innovative teaching methods with ICT: we practised different tools in class, learning new ways to engage students and set and display a lesson. This course lets participants understand how to work with a more innovative approach in their classes. 

Finally, thanks to an ICT tool, participants could join in a particular type of treasure hunt, discovering Palermo and practising the power of Outdoor Education in a very amusing way. Through this activity, some advantages of Outdoor Education emerged, like the increase in motivation and creativity but also the improvement of psychophysical well-being thanks to the contact with nature and the resulting reduction of stress.
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It was a week full of confrontation and inspiration and, at the end of the course, the participants were very excited to go back and start applying all the ideas that emerged during the course!

Discover more about this course here.