A class can learn together using paper cards, a well-facilitated conversation, or a shared phone. Interactive lessons are teaching activities in which students take part in tasks that provide evidence of learning, such as explaining an idea, solving a problem, or comparing answers. To plan an effective activity, align the goal, the class’s needs, the format, and the assessment—with or without technology.
In Educação de Jovens e Adultos (EJA), Brazil’s youth and adult education program, this kind of planning helps welcome students with different life paths, reading levels, and professional experiences. The guide below explains how to choose activities, adapt materials, and check what the class has learned without making technology a requirement.
Before you plan, define these points
- What should students be able to demonstrate by the end?
- What knowledge and experience can the class build on?
- How much time is available, and what materials do you actually have?
- What evidence will show whether the goal has been met?
What are interactive lessons, and how do you plan one for EJA?
Interactive lessons are planned learning experiences in which students and the teacher shape the learning process through participation, discussion, and analysis of responses. For EJA, connect an observable goal to the class’s experiences, choose an accessible activity, and plan how to follow students’ reasoning—not just their attendance or enthusiasm. Interaction doesn’t just mean tapping a screen or answering a quiz. A lesson with a digital presentation can still be lecture-based, while a partner discussion with questions that require students to justify their answers encourages intellectual engagement without the internet. What matters is what students do with the content.
Planning is more effective when it starts with what the class needs to learn, rather than with the tools available. This approach aligns with effective lesson planning and the guidelines of the Base Nacional Comum Curricular (BNCC), Brazil’s national curriculum framework, while taking into account the specific needs of the program and the local curriculum.
Step 1: Turn the goal into an observable task
Write the goal using a verb that describes what the class will do: identify, compare, calculate, explain, or make an argument. “Understand percentages” is broad; “calculate a discount and explain how you arrived at the amount” makes it possible to choose a task and assess the result. In EJA, an everyday topic can provide context without making the activity feel childish. Utility bills, workplace communication, recipes, and travel routes are possible starting points, as long as they make sense to students and don’t expose personal information.
The Operational Guidelines for Educação de Jovens e Adultos, issued by Brazil’s National Education Council, should be considered alongside local requirements. UNESCO also recognizes adult learning as part of lifelong education. This underscores the importance of recognizing different learning paths and needs without assuming that everyone learns in the same way.
Step 2: Choose an activity based on the goal and access
The format should support learning. If the goal is to make an argument, organize a discussion with assigned roles. If it’s to practice calculations, offer problems with different levels of support. If it’s to review concepts, use cards, a quiz game, or a digital tool that provides feedback.
- Collaboration: Small groups solve a problem and record how they divided the work.
- Group activity: Each student receives a piece of information, and the class must bring the pieces together to find a solution.
- Gamification: Challenges and rules structure the practice. Points should support the goal, not replace an explanation of the reasoning.
- Creating something: Students make a poster, audio recording, map, or short text to communicate what they’ve learned.
A collection of interactive lessons for EJA can inspire different formats, but activities need to be adapted to the class’s available time, reading levels, and prior knowledge.
Step 3: Adapt activities for different subjects and levels
The same activity can offer different ways to get started. Provide a worked example, a set of hints, or simpler numbers for students who need support. For students who catch on quickly, add a justification, a comparison, or a problem that can be solved in more than one way.
In math, an interactive activity might ask groups to compare unit prices and explain which option is the better deal. In science, the class might sort examples of changes in the state of water and defend each choice. In literacy, word-and-picture cards can help students build sentences without expecting everyone to read at the same pace.
For interactive activities for fourth and fifth graders, visual fraction challenges, multistep problems, and shared data reading work well. These examples can also be adapted for EJA, but the context, language, and amount of support need to be adjusted. Grade level alone doesn’t determine what each adult knows.
Example: The class compares two deals on the same product, sold in different-sized packages.
In pairs, students use the information on the label to calculate the price per unit or per pound.
Then, each pair presents its strategy and checks whether another group got the same result.
Step 4: Choose digital, printed, or collaborative resources
Use a digital tool when it adds something useful, such as audio, visualization, immediate feedback, or collaborative creation. Choose printed materials when access to devices is inconsistent or the connection might interrupt the lesson. Use an oral or group activity when the goal is to make an argument, negotiate meaning, or share strategies.
Learning platforms, educational apps, digital whiteboards, and videos are tools, not teaching methods. Before adopting a service, check whether it works on the available devices, requires an account, can be used offline, and offers an alternative for students who can’t access it. For ideas, see these educational apps for more interactive lessons.
You can create interactive online activities with form builders, presentation tools, or quiz games, as long as students have access and know how to use them. When looking for free online activities or printable materials, check that the instructions are clear, the content matches the intended level, and examples and vocabulary can be edited. “Aulas Interativas Netbil” may come up in searches for materials, but its educational quality should be evaluated by the same criteria as any other resource, without relying on a brand name.
The best activity is one that every student can take part in and that lets the teacher observe learning.
Early childhood education activities can also inspire sorting and matching games, but they need to be redesigned for the class’s age group and goals. In adult literacy, for example, topics and images should reflect participants’ experiences without treating adults like children.
Step 5: Monitor learning and adjust the lesson
Formative assessment means tracking evidence of learning during instruction to guide what comes next. Instead of counting only who participated, look for whether students explain their process, revise a hypothesis, apply a concept in a new situation, or identify where they struggled.
Use an exit question, review a written response, or ask for a brief oral explanation. If many students get the right answer but can’t show how they got it, the activity needs to focus on reasoning, not just the final answer. Feedback should point to a next step: reread a piece of information, check a calculation, or compare two strategies.
Step 6: Address barriers without losing sight of the goal
Different learning paces, anxiety about using digital tools, and limited time can all make it harder for students to participate. Adaptations should remove barriers without eliminating the intellectual challenge. Options include giving instructions in steps, allowing oral or written responses, and having students work in pairs.
Challenge
Adaptation
What to monitor
Different reading paces
Break the prompt into parts and read instructions aloud
Whether the student identifies the information needed
Unequal access to devices
Share one device per group or provide an equivalent printed version
Whether everyone contributes to the solution
Fear of making a mistake in front of others
Allow students to discuss in pairs before sharing with the class
Whether explanations become more complete
Not enough time to finish
Reduce the number of questions and keep one central task
Whether the evidence still addresses the goal
A common mistake is choosing an appealing tool before defining what the class should learn. This can lead to a busy lesson without clear evidence of understanding. To avoid that mismatch, test the activity with the available instructions and time. If it takes up the whole lesson without revealing students’ reasoning, simplify the rules or switch formats.
Participatory activities can encourage collaboration and connect content to familiar situations, but they don’t guarantee learning or lower dropout rates on their own. The outcome depends on the goal, facilitation, access, and ongoing instruction.
Next step: Plan a short activity
Choose a topic the class is studying and write a task that will let you observe a specific learning outcome. Then choose a digital, printed, or collaborative format based on access, level, and time. Try the activity and use students’ responses to plan the next lesson.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does an interactive lesson need internet access?
No. Cards, guided discussion, partner problem-solving, and poster-making can all encourage participation without an internet connection.
How can I create free interactive online activities?
You can use free form builders, presentation tools, or games, depending on the resources available. Before class, check whether students need an account, whether the tools work on phones, and what alternatives are available for students without access.
What physics activity can I do with limited resources?
Students can investigate motion using everyday objects and record their observations in a table. The class compares what changes when they change the surface or incline, then explains the results using the concepts they’ve studied.
How can I use games without turning the lesson into a competition?
Value explanations of strategies and let groups revise their answers. If points make students hide questions or exclude classmates, remove the leaderboard and keep the challenges.
How can I tell if a printable activity is appropriate?
Check whether the directions are easy to read, the task matches the goal, and the reading level suits the class. Adapt names, situations, and numbers so the material makes sense in the students’ context.
