Explaining Activities: Speech as the Path to True Knowledge

Introduction: The Best Way to Study, Explaining

We often think we ‘know’ something, but when asked to explain it, we often find ourselves speechless. However, the moment we try to explain it to someone, scattered knowledge becomes logically connected and structured. ‘Explaining’ is a metacognition cheat key that makes us realize most clearly what we know and what we don’t know. Here are 6 activities where children can teach and learn from each other in the classroom.

09. Mind Map Explanation

It is an activity that stimulates the left and right brain simultaneously through images.

Method:
1. Draw a Mind Map centering on the topic learned today.
2. Show the mind map you drew to your partner and explain the content for 2 minutes.
3. The partner fills in the missing or insufficient parts of the explanation with questions or supplementary explanations.
Point: The ability to grasp and visualize the overall structure of knowledge is cultivated.

10. Explanation Relay

It is an activity that applies the ‘Message Relay Game’ to learning.

Method:
1. 4 people form a group and sit in a row.
2. The person at the very front listens to the teacher’s explanation or reads the text. (e.g. “Photosynthesis is~”)
3. Explain what they learned to the person behind them within a time limit. Relay it to the last person.
4. The last person presents the delivered content and compares it with the original content.
Point: Concentration to listen to information accurately and grasp the core to deliver is required.

11. Key Sentence Relay

It is a training to summarize a long explanation into one sentence.

Method:
1. Each person writes a key sentence they think is most important among what they learned.
2. Compare and discuss key sentences with group members.
3. Complete the best key sentence representing the group and write it on the blackboard.
Point: Summary ability to penetrate the essence by removing superfluities improves.

12. Explanation Bingo

It is an activity to review happily through games.

Method:
1. Write key terms learned today on a 3x3 or 4x4 bingo board.
2. Select one term on your turn, and you can only erase it if you explain its meaning or concept accurately.
3. You cannot erase it if you cannot explain it or if it is wrong.
Point: You become immersed in the process of explaining accurately rather than winning or losing the game.

13. Jigsaw Activity

It is the flower of ‘Cooperative Learning’ where we teach each other.

Method:
1. Divide the unit into 4 sub-topics.
2. Children who are in charge of the same sub-topic gather from each group to create an ‘Expert Group’.
3. Study and research the corresponding part perfectly in the expert group.
4. Return to the original group (Home Group) and explain the part you are in charge of to friends.
Point: Responsibility and interdependence that “My explanation is responsible for my friends’ learning” are maximized.

14. Sentence Making Golden Bell

It is an activity to define concepts, not simply guessing correct answers.

Method:
1. When the teacher gives a keyword (e.g. “Democracy”), write a sentence explaining the concept on a whiteboard.
2. Have them write using metaphors or reasons in the format of “Democracy is [ ]. Because it is [ ].”
3. Share friends’ brilliant explanations together and vote.
Point: Creative reinterpretation and expressive power develop, not simple memorization.

Conclusion

A quiet classroom is a dead classroom. When the buzzing sound of children’s explanations fills the classroom, the class breathes alive. Please lay out a mat for your partner right now saying “Do you want to explain once?”. Children’s eyes will change.

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