12. Taking Learning A Step Further |
"For many students,learning doesn't become real until they have opportunities to do something with their knowledge in real world settings" (Goodwin, B & Hubble, E.R., 2013, p 154). It's imperative to make learning relevant to your students and allow them actually apply that learning to a real world situation or context. If we can shift away from the step-by-step style of learning and make it more problem solving and discovery based we will better prepare our students for the real world. How many jobs give you a step-by-step procedure for fixing problems? Why are we doing that in our classrooms? Not everything has an easy process to solve. We need to teach our student to be critical problem solvers, to fail and learn from their mistakes, and to take risks. Before you begin to plan your next unit ask yourself "What will students do with this knowledge?" then plan your activities from there.
Here are some things to consider when planning a unit:
- Incorporate projects to apply knowledge.
- Frame learning around your essential questions.
- Provided students with heuristic problems to solve.
- Use the web for extending learning.
- Explicitly teach problem solving skills to your students.
"Students need both learning and the keys to use it. They ought to be able to use their mathematics knowledge to solve problems, their language arts abilities to analyze information and persuade others" (Goodwin, B & Hubble, E.R., 2013, p 181). When students walk out of your classroom they should be able to apply what they just learned to their lives.
Here are some resources for applying math skills to the real world.
http://www.realworldmath.org/project-based-learning.html
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AjIqyKM9d7ZYdEhtR3BJMmdBWnM2YWxWYVM1UWowTEE&output=html
References:
Goodwin, R. & Hubbell, E. R. (2013). The 12 touchstones of good teaching: A checklist for staying focused every day.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Prloject Based Learning. Retrieved from:
http://www.realworldmath.org/project-based-learning.html
Here are some things to consider when planning a unit:
- Incorporate projects to apply knowledge.
- Frame learning around your essential questions.
- Provided students with heuristic problems to solve.
- Use the web for extending learning.
- Explicitly teach problem solving skills to your students.
"Students need both learning and the keys to use it. They ought to be able to use their mathematics knowledge to solve problems, their language arts abilities to analyze information and persuade others" (Goodwin, B & Hubble, E.R., 2013, p 181). When students walk out of your classroom they should be able to apply what they just learned to their lives.
Here are some resources for applying math skills to the real world.
http://www.realworldmath.org/project-based-learning.html
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AjIqyKM9d7ZYdEhtR3BJMmdBWnM2YWxWYVM1UWowTEE&output=html
References:
Goodwin, R. & Hubbell, E. R. (2013). The 12 touchstones of good teaching: A checklist for staying focused every day.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Prloject Based Learning. Retrieved from:
http://www.realworldmath.org/project-based-learning.html