For learning to take place, the learner must be effectively and positively involved in the process.Classroom learning requires students to pay attention, observe, memorize, understand, set goals and assume responsibility for their own learning. Teachers must help students become active and goal-oriented by encouraging them to work on their natural desire to explore, understand and master new things.In class therefore, teachers ought to:• Create interesting and challenging learning environments that encourage the active participation of students.• Avoid situations where students just listen passively for long periods of time.• Provide students with hands-on activities, such as experiments, observations, projects, etc.• Encourage participation in classroom discussions and other group activities.• Organize school visits to museums and science parks.• Allow students to have a bit of control over their own learning by encouraging them to take part in deciding on what they want to learn and how.• Assist students in creating learning goals consistent with their interests and future goals.Social activity and participation begin early on in life. Learning is primarily a social activity, so taking part in school activities is important to learning.Experts believe that social participationis the main channel where learning occurs. According to psychologist Lev Vygotsky, children learn by internalizing the activities, habits, vocabulary and ideas of the members of the community where they grow up.The establishment of a fruitful, participative and cooperative atmosphereis essential to school learning. Social collaboration can boost student achievement, provided that the kinds of interactions encouraged contribute to learning.Social activities are interesting per se and help keep students involved in their academic work. Students work harder to improve the quality of their essays, projects, artwork, etc. when they know that these will be shared with other students.In class teachers should:• Conduct numerous activities to encouragegroup participation.• Assign students to work in groups and then designate someone to play the role of captain or coach to guide and support the groups.• Make students appreciate the connection between the school and the community at large.People become more motivated to learn better when they know that what they are doing has beneficial long-term effects to others. Some school activities mean nothing to students when no effort is exerted to make the students understand the objectives of the activities.There are schools that are inter-racial and inter-cultural, which means that significant cultural differences in practices, habits, social roles, etc., all of which have a bearing on the way students learn, exist but are oftentimes overlooked. Thus, it can happen that some meaningful activities for students from one cultural group may not prove meaningful to students from another cultural group.Teachers can also make activities more meaningful by situating them in real-life contexts. For example, they can conduct debates to help students improve their spoken language and communication skills. Students can likewise be made to participate in community or school environmental projects.(Henry S. Tenedero is the president of the Center for Learning and Teaching Styles and MINDful IDEAS, an affiliate of the International Learning Styles Network, based at St. John’s University in New York. He is a graduate of the AIM Masters in Development management and of the Harvard Graduate School for Professional Educators. He can be reached at htenedero@yahoo.com.)