Back to Basics Through Engaged Education
Kids find their school life boring. Don't believe me? Ask them. Go ahead. Ask a recent graduate to pick out one word that describes her schooling experience. More than likely that word will be boring.
Of course students will remember bright spots that usually surround a special event, their friends, or even memories that have to do with an elective or extracurricular interest. But if you press and ask them about their interests in their core classes: science, math, language arts, or social studies, most students will have a less-than-glowing review of their experiences.
Why is that? Is it that teachers are worse now than they were 20 years ago? Is it that our students are lazier or dumber than they were 20 years ago? I don't think so.
I think it's a mix of reasons as to why students are not engaged in their classwork and each can be debated til the cows come home. But the reality remains that kids simply are not engaged. And the disengagement doesn't seem to be relegated to only the "slow" learners, or the "poor" kids, or even the "bright-but-bored" gifted learners. No, disengagement crosses all demographic boundaries.
To illustrate this for yourself, think back to the last time you were required to attend some sort of training. Was the information easier to remember when it was fun and interesting? Did you want to be there to learn more? Yes, attitudes do make a big difference in the learning environment just as the environment makes a big impact on the quality of learning.
But we still have important information for students to master to become a well-educated citizenry. It can't be all fun and games. There are things that people in a democratic society simply should know and should be able to do. Agreed.
In most schools, our answer to this is that we tack on more hours to the day. We test students more. We create remedial classes. Basically, we use the same strategies as we always have, only this time doing the strategies longer, louder, slower, and with color-coding and hand gestures.
And unfortunately, doing the same thing louder and longer makes no lasting positive impact in the general attitude that students have about school. In fact, it might do just the opposite.
So what is the solution?
Currently, there is growing support and positive evidence for the use of Project-Based Learning or "learning by doing;" by being faced with a question or a challenge that, in order to overcome it, we must learn information along the way. And that is exactly what Project Based Learning is. Students are given a well-designed question/challenge that will require them to learn “the basics” of information and to practice the skills we need to develop to participate in today’s real-world challenges. The challenge asks them to draw in information from multiple sources, to sift through that information, and to create an original solution to the challenge that is based in cited fact and plausible reality.
In order to complete a PBL lesson, students might be asked to practice math skills, or learn about laws in society, or understand the human anatomy and environment. And always, students will have to practice reading, researching, writing, listening, and speaking in every single project. And each of the PBL lessons is designed to provide an appropriate challenge for the students at their current ability levels, so students are gathering information and practicing skills that keep them learning at levels they’re ready for.
Students don’t have to ask, “where will I need this in life,” because by participating in a well-designed PBL lesson, they not only see the application to life, they also find a joy and excitement to learning and school. Loving learning, loving school, and still learning important information and skills? That is a win in any parent’s column, any day of the week.
