Phone Free Learning: Indiana teachers embrace hands-on learning as cellphone ban takes effect

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- As Indiana students return to classrooms this fall, a new statewide cellphone ban is changing how some teachers approach learning — and giving them an opportunity to put more emphasis on hands-on activities.

While the ban does not eliminate technology from classrooms, educators say it could help students spend less time on their phones and more time interacting with their teachers, classmates and the world around them.

At South Central Junior-Senior High School in Union Mills, social studies teacher Katie Hendricks said technology remains an important part of the school day.

“A lot of what we do is still online,” Hendricks said. “They’re using their Chromebook a whole lot because everything is online. Unfortunately, that’s the world we live in.”

Hendricks, who has taught for 14 years and is known by her students as the “school mom,” said she has already prohibited cellphones in her classroom.

In previous years, she said, students would sometimes hide their phones in their Chromebook cases, creating distractions during class.

Under the new rules, students are required to keep their phones in their lockers, eliminating some of the distractions Hendricks has dealt with in the past.

Hendricks said her classroom already emphasizes hands-on learning, including projects in which students create posters and other materials.

“Being a small school, we know everybody. We have a very good rapport with everybody, and it seems to work out really well,” she said. “My kids are amazing, and they do a great job of listening and doing what they’re supposed to.”

Other educators are also looking for ways to replace screen-based activities with projects that allow students to work with their hands.

Ian Lewis, a special education teacher at the Portage School of Leaders, said he has been stocking up on traditional classroom supplies as he plans lessons for the new school year.

“I need more colored pencils, I need more markers, I need more ways for students to create things with their hands and not their devices,” Lewis said.

Lewis, who has taught for eight years, is developing a project in which students will operate a small classroom business, growing lettuce and basil in the school’s science lab.

Instead of relying on students to research information online or design projects digitally, Lewis said the cellphone restrictions are encouraging teachers to find more creative ways to engage students.

“I think it forces teachers to be more creative,” he said.

Lewis also sees an opportunity for students to build stronger connections with people outside the classroom.

He said he is particularly looking forward to taking students into the community, where they can interact with community partners and learn about different careers, crafts and environments.

The Portage School of Leaders spent its first week back incorporating hands-on activities and physical projects while students reconnected with their peers, Lewis said.

“Phones serve as a barrier,” he said. “I think naturally speaking, they serve to disconnect us from the world around us.”

Since students have been spending more time interacting with each other, Lewis said he has noticed a difference in the classroom.

“Now that students are connecting with each other, you can just see their conversations flowing, the way that they’re connecting with each other,” he said.

For teachers like Hendricks and Lewis, the cellphone ban represents an adjustment for both educators and students. But the transition could create more opportunities for students to collaborate, create and learn beyond a screen.