For the past several months we’ve been examining The Seven Laws of the Teacher by Howard Hendricks.

In August, we looked at The Law of the Teacher: “if you stop growing today, you stop teaching tomorrow.”

In September, we examined the second law, The Law of Education:  “The way people learn determines how you teach.”

Now for the third law, The Law of Activity:

“Maximum learning is always the result of maximum involvement.”

Activity for the sake of busyness is not our goal. As Hendricks pointed out, practice does not make perfect if the student is practicing the wrong way! So it’s not just activity, but meaningful activity that leads to proficiency.

Hendricks offered five forms of meaningful activity for teachers to consider:

1. Activity that provides direction without dictatorship. The key is providing enough direction for the student to succeed, but not so much direction that they will never fail. Sometimes failure is the best teacher!
2. Activity that stresses function and application. Learning takes place when we give our students only as much information as they can apply. Pouring a gallon of information into a thimble is a waste of time and energy!
3. Activity with a planned purpose. Know your objective in teaching. Does every activity meet your objectives? Anything less is busywork!
4. Activity that is concerned with the process as well as the product. When we teach biblical principles to children, will the outcome only be that they learn what we believe? Or will they also learn why?
5. Realistic activity that includes problem-solving situations. Students need to be able to apply what they’re learning to relevant situations in their own life. If they don’t, then they’re not really learning. They’re just memorizing a bunch of facts.

Studies have shown that, in learning, we remember only up to 10% of what we hear and up to 50% of what we hear and see. But when we add doing to hearing and seeing, we can remember up to 90% of what we learn. Meaningful activity helps learners learn!

In light of this third Law, what teaching activities have you used that might not be as meaningful as you first thought?