There is a fine line to be struck between teaching knowledge and educating students in the classroom, and having fun too. The trick, if you can find it is to combine the two in a way which helps students learn new things whilst having a bit of fun with it, this not only makes the learning process easier, but helps students to retain knowledge. As part of a recent feature on information site Ines Cano Uribe, we worked with some writers on effective ways of teaching and the idea of fun regularly came up. If you are a teacher and want to inject some fun into the classroom then here are a few ways in which you can do it.

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Go Outside

Every once in a while, providing the weather is ok, why not take your class out of the classroom and give a lesson in the great outdoors. Classrooms can become really stuffy and letting the students get outside in the fresh air will significantly help their brains when it comes to learn. An outdoor class, if done occasionally becomes memorable for students and if the class itself is memorable, so too will be the knowledge that you are giving them.

Make it Relevant

Education does not have to be boring and whilst you may find teaching calculus an exciting topic, you need to understand that many students will not agree. In order to bring your subject to life, you need to make it relevant to the students. For example why not teach Shakespeare as though it was a rap song, teach Algebra like it was social media or teach chemistry as though each element was a sports team. When the time comes in the curriculum to teach a topic which students may not find to be the most interesting, get creative and teach it in a way which they can understand. An early childhood education degree at Gwynedd Mercy teaches the importance of creativity and flexibility in adapting to each individual student’s needs – finding something relevant to the student can help with this.

Introduce Games

It will not be possible for yo to make every aspect of learning a magical and fun journey into education but you can attempt to make as much of it fun as possible. A great way to do this is to introduce games, students love games and love competition and if you can spin educating in such a way that students can compete in a fun environment then you can really help them to better learn.

Whatever your subject is, you can turn it into a game and you can also use a game to inspire the students to be more disciplined in the classroom. For example, let the students know at all times that there are two ways in which you can teach them, the boring way whereby they will be reading in silence from a book, or the fun way which involves games, competitions and laughter. Let your students know that as long as they behave themselves, you can all learn in a way that is fun, should they choose not to do so then they will be more than well aware what the consequence will be.