TOUCHSTONE 12: I help students do something with their learning.
Explanation
Learning doesn’t become real to students until they can apply that knowledge to real-world settings, is the basis of the last touchstone twelve. One of the most important things educators can do is to make learning applicable to the real world, if not students become bored with school and learning in general. Discussions are a fantastic way to keep information and learning fresh and discussions often lead to the students finding ways for the content to affect their everyday lives. Socratic seminars are a great way for teachers to lead questioning and discussions. Throughout history story telling has been the way information has passed from generation to generation. Small group discussions following set procedures and written conversations are also beneficial for students to link this information to real world applications. Written assignments using open ended prompts can engage students and access the important critical thinking we hope to get from them. Applying knowledge through projects allows students to create, apply and demonstrate new learning. Project-based learning can be used in all content areas to help student learning and can drive to real world applications that are important to the student. Project-based learning requires the educator to set parameters for what knowledge they want students to apply in the project and what students are to think about while conducting the project. Setting up project-based assignments gives students a heuristic approach to problem solving allowing students to discover new knowledge on their own.
Application
In my unit I based small projects for the students to accomplish throughout the lessons. While some were directed to give responses other projects were outlined and allowed students to discover new information on their own while applying goal setting in their everyday lives. They were able to apply this newly discovered information on passions they aspire to in athletics that made the relevance for them come into focus.
Specific possibilities in applying learning in real world applications:
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Generate and test hypothesis
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Use the internet for inquiry projects
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Cause and effect analysis
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Podcasting
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Designing Website and Apps around content
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Questioning
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Argumentative Speeches/Essays
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Debates
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Field Trips Real and Virtual
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Guest Speakers
Additional Resources