Help Students Do Something with Their Learning
“Simply stated, for knowledge to stick, students need to do something with it.”
It can be said that for a concept to stick in a student’s mind, that student must do something with it (Goodwin & Hubbell, 2013). The American system of education tends to focus on step by step or algorithmic learning and not the investigative style that works best (Goodwin & Hubble, 2013), so finding moments for students to experience to learn is important.
To break this pattern, how can teachers add opportunities for heuristic learning in their teaching? Heuristic problems are ones with no predetermined processes or solutions (Goodwin & Hubbell, 2013) that have popped up or will be examined purposefully. The use of art as a means of problem solving can be a good pathway. One such example is a project that was used in an after school program a few years ago. Students talked about the current problem of excessive trash in the ocean. Then they looked at some solutions that had already been created. The students were asked to use craft supplies to create a machine that would help clean the ocean. Some were more based in reality than others, but there were some good solutions to a real-world problem.
There has been a reemergence of art as a pedagogy, using art to examine any subject (Schwartz, 2019). A school in Philadelphia has created content with this dual focus in academic content and creative development and has seen steady improvement in English and math scores (Baldwin, 2018).
Teachers can also explore using more direct contact with experts. When students meet with experts in fields they are studying, they gain hands-on learning experiences (Baldwin, 2018). Skype in a farmer for a lesson on plants or an author or playwright for a writing assignment. Using current topics to teach can also be a good tool. Inquiring about current real-world topics gives the students great context (Baldwin, 2019).
Real-Life Resources
References
Baldwin, J. (2018, March 18). A School Rooted in Real-World Learning. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/school-rooted-real-world-learning
Goodwin, B., & Hubble, E. R. (2013). The 12 touchstones of good teaching: a checklist for staying focused every day. ASCD, McREL International.
Schwartz, K. (2019, October 14). How Art Can Help Center a Student’s Learning Experience. KQED News Mindshift. Retrieved from https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54370/how-art-can-help-center-a-students-learning-experience