How to make Students Independent Learners

Learning is a conscious effort that requires the indulged person to fathom the crux of the lesson and retain and apply the learned part whenever required. Learning is not just answering questions in a test paper; it’s about implementing the learned concept beyond the classroom. Self-motivated students are noticed to retain learning longer than those who rote or learned it under some pressure. The making of students independent learners require a lot more than casual motivation. Let’s see how.

How to make Students Independent Learners?

Independent learning is not about letting students sit and make them learn on their own. It’s about providing enough resources for the student to critically analyse, inquire and evaluate, and that too, without any external guidance. Learning how to learn independently is a thoughtful act and can be simulated in a student’s behaviour only by proper guidance. Teachers can help students discover their learning potential by assigning them their learning goals on a regular basis. It may spur them to engage in learning goals to fulfil them within the designated time.

Tips to help students become more independent learners

Create Student-Centred Learning Environment – Learning is at the maximum when it happens in a student-centred environment. When students are given voice and choice, they play an active role in the teaching-learning process. They become independent learners and try to implement all that they learn over time.
Prefer Scaffolding Teaching Method – Vygotsky’s theory of scaffolding learning holds potential even today when learning attention span is too short to memorize things. Active collaboration of teachers can help students discover new and effective methods to learn by structured lesson plans.
Introduce Project Based Learning – Students love to create as it is their basic behaviour. Endow them with enough opportunities to indulge in a creative approach and become independent learners. Students participate actively throughout the project and will understand the ‘what, why and how of the subject’ to master the context.
Least Interruption – The less the parents and teachers will interrupt in the student learning process, the faster they will try to learn independently. This will help them unleash higher levels of confidence and become self-motivated.
Formal Goal Setting – Those who have preconceived goals find it easier to approach them. A clear outline is always easy to follow. With a formal goal setting, students will be mentally bound to ensure their best performance, thus strengthening their progress. They will try to form a time tested way to better management and learning.

What can parents do to support Independent Learning?

Parents can help students by preparing a rigid/flexible schedule for them. These schedules should be consistent with daily must-haves. A clear line of action would help students determine their actionable path.
Create choices for students to help them understand the hierarchy of what’s most important and what’s least important. With this, they will dig deep into the intricacy of the subject for deeper learning.
Encourage self-learning with a refined approach to let students discover their own ways to comprehend concepts. It will help them retain concepts for a long time.

To promote independent learning, plenty of methods can be utilized. These methods will focus on more student-centred learning for a healthy learning experience.