Mr. Arrowood has been engaging students in hands-on activities to help them better understand certain topics. From gummy bear dissections to teach regional terms in anatomy, to banana surgeries to teach students how to do sutures, Arrowood has been trying it all.
Hands-on learning provides an enriching learning experience in the classroom. Arrowood and many others believe that when there are more laughs in the classroom, there is more learning.
In all of his classes, he has done a handwashing lab to teach the importance of washing hands. Students put on fluorescent fake germ lotion and looked at their hands under a black light. Their hands lit up under the light. He provided three types of hand soap and showed a step-by-step of how to wash your hands properly. Some were shocked by how clean their hands got while others were disgusted at how dirty they still were from improper hand washing.
In general science, Arrowood taught students the water cycle with a friendship bracelet lab. Students moved throughout the room as a water molecule and collected beads at various locations. Each location was a different stage in the cycle.
In anatomy, students went online to do a virtual escape room. They walked through many riddles and slew dragons to learn the different bones.
Many students prefer hands-on learning as opposed to an hour-long lecture and everyone appreciates the laughs they have throughout the class. Arrowood says, “Hands-on learning is the new era of teaching, and if you aren’t sailing on this ship, you students will drown in boredom. So you better hop on board.... Arrgh!” We couldn’t agree more!