When I saw this cartoon I immediately thought of the active learning characteristic talked about in This We Believe. So often students challenge why they are required to learn something, and at that point we as teachers have a very important decision to make. We either take the time to really help them make the connection between the content and real world applications or we take the easy way out and tell them because it will be on the test. Active learning is a theory that indicates that students will learn and retain information better if it is engaging and purposeful. I believe that 100%.
If they can see how what they are learning fits into THEIR lives you have them hooked!When school starts we will follow the hurricane season via the web. Each morning we will watch the movement along the coasts, discuss how Arkansas weather will be affected (if any effects). They will come to class with info the next morning, having watched the weather on TV. They can see the relationship between the coastal regions and our state. I can see their interest and those little dendrites busy, busy thinking through things. And life is good.
ReplyDeleteI agree that you must make learning meaningful. I myself asked that question when I was in school. I always found that if a teacher gave me an example from real life or challenged me to apply whatever was being taught to my life I cound understand better. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of times that I just memorized facts to pass a test. However all those facts are long forgotten, but the experiences are still in my brain and that is the material that stuck with me.
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