Nearpod’s latest interactive activity addition brings a new level to student engagement and effective instruction. Drag & Drop activities can add interest and excitement to everyday classroom learning. Educators can choose from an ever-growing collection of ready-to-use Drag & Drop activities or create customized activities to meet specific classroom needs. When paired with all of Nearpod’s interactive slides-based lessons, interactive video, and other gamification & activities, this feature gives teachers many tools to meet the needs of diverse learners. Here are 3 ways to use Drag & Drop activities in the classroom.

1. Captivate learners with Drag & Drop activities that teach concepts in a fun and engaging way.

• Use Drag & Drop activities to label diagrams, images, maps, patterns, and cycles. In this pre-made Drag & Drop activity, students identify the location of and label five northwestern states. Students can label the continents, oceans, and state flags in geography. In science, students can label the parts of a plant, the parts of the brain, or the parts of an animal cell. And in ELA, students can label the parts of speech in a sentence.
• Sequence events, steps, procedures, and information. In this pre-made Drag & Drop activity, students sequence key events on the timeline of the formation of the Union. In social studies, students can sequence the events leading up to the American Revolution. In ELA, students can sequence the order of events in a story: the beginning, middle, and end. And in math, students can sequence a collection of fractions on a number line.
• Sort concepts, characteristics, properties, and categories. In this pre-made Drag & Drop activity, students sort triangles based on their characteristics. In science, students can sort animals into groups, the five senses, and elements of the Periodic Table. In social studies, students can sort the causes and effects of WWII, the powers of the three branches of government, and needs and wants.

With seemingly unlimited possibilities, gamifying learning with Drag & Drop activities provides visual and interactive learning opportunity, increases student engagement, and encourages retention.

2. Gather feedback with Drag & Drop activities that assess knowledge comprehension and gauge understanding of key concepts.

Providing students with timely feedback and support based on formative assessments is a highly effective way to enhance and improve a student’s learning. When teachers can create opportunities for feedback on a consistent basis, learning can reach a whole new level. Consider gathering feedback beyond the traditional assessment methods. Use a Drag & Drop activity as an end-of-lesson or mid-lesson metacognitive check-in, gauge how students feel about learning a specific topic, or check-in about the difficulty level of a homework assignment. A Drag & Drop activity can aid students in indicating stress or focus levels or whether they find a lesson interesting or challenging.

3. Build a positive and nurturing classroom community with Drag & Drop activities that set expectations for learning and establish routines, procedures, and rules.

Imagine having a tool that actively engages your students in understanding and establishing routines, procedures, and rules, and allows your students to participate in building the classroom community. Drag & Drop activities create opportunities for students to become active participants in the classroom. Use a Drag & Drop activity to sequence classroom procedures, gauge student understanding of classroom rules and policies, and take a snapshot of the level of excitement for a particular topic in the daily class agenda.

As students physically engage with concepts through Drag & Drop activities, learning will be transformed into an immersive experience. Drag & Drop activities will prove to be a powerful EdTech tool in the classroom, enhancing learning and building stronger connections between teachers and learners and among classmates. Be sure to make Drag & Drop an integral part of instruction this school year and take advantage of our ready-to-launch standards-aligned activities, growing into the hundreds throughout this fall.

Jessica Clarke

Jessica Clarke is the Curriculum Manager at Nearpod.