classroom organization

Classroom Organization in Experiential Learning

 

Classroom organization is really important for teachers in handling the classroom as well as their students. Teachers need to consider what type of classroom organization that suits with the activities that will be carried out. For experiential learning, Ukens (1999) stated that it involves the application of the experiences to work and life situations and active participation from the learners in a planned series of events.

 

It is really important to divide the class into groups before the activities using experiential learning is conducted because students will be using a lot of movements and need a lot of space in the classroom. According to Lee (1979), the division of groups and teams should not be done every time a new activity starts. This is because it is such a waste of time. Due to this, students should be in the same group from the start until the end of the teaching and learning process.

 

The division of students can be done in teams, groups or pairs. A team is bigger than a group where a class of thirty students can be divided into two teams. Meanwhile, there can be three groups in a team of average fifteen students. Four or five members in a group are enough. Pair work can be done according to the suitability of the activities and time taken (Lee, 1979). In naming the groups, teachers should consider suitable name for each group. This is because even the names of groups can either motivate or demotivate students in teaching and learning process. However, teachers could give the freedom for the students to choose a name for their groups.

 

If necessary, for experiential learning, teachers can rearranged the furniture in the classroom in order to get the activities done and to avoid the classroom to be crowded. Pair work is easy to manage. The pairs can be the opposite partner in the class. Meanwhile, groups are harder to manage because they need to move around in the classroom (Lee, 1979). For example, treasure hunt game needs the students to move around in groups to find clues or objects. If too many students move about at the same time, this could bring chaos to the classroom. According to Lewis and Bedson (1999), the stations of the game should be taken care of so that the students would not interfere with each other. So, teachers need to rearrange the furniture. The hardest to manage is the teams. It is because they are gathered in large numbers and there will be no space for them to move around in the classroom (Lee, 1979). Therefore, teachers whose activities requires students to work in teams need to set up or find a more suitable place for the class to be conducted for example, the field  or school hall.

 

In conclusion, classroom organization is important in experiential learning to create the mood for learning and motivate students in the learning process. In conducting experiential learning in classroom, the class could be divided into pairs, groups or team, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Teachers need to speculate more carefully in choosing the appropriate group size and the setting as well as the environment of the class.

 

Lee, W. R. (1979). Language Teaching Games and Contests. Oxford University Press: New York.

Lewis, G. & Bedson, G. (1999). Games for Children. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

Ukens, L. L. (1999). All Together Now! Jossey-Bass/ Pfeiffer: California.

 

Posted by Nurfareza Yahya & Noraida Daut

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