Making learning meaningful by involving students every step of the way.
A student describes her chess strategy to a co-learner at KEY academy
“If students are involved in their learning, they own the concepts they learn. They often get excited and passionate about what they learn.”
Jason Edmunds, educator and creative writer I believe learning should be an enlightening journey for students. In this short article, I will explain why I believe this. Many of my secondary school teachers were brazen in their approach to dealing with students who don’t grasp concepts easily or answer questions incorrectly, whether it was in the form of caning, teacher bullying, or belittling in front of the class. Wow! That hurt our pride and self-esteem. They, unfortunately, left psychological scars on sensitive students. Many of my classmates and I doubted our abilities, knowledge, and skills. Some became insecure and withdrawn, which didn’t help at all. Others were often absent on days we had the mean teachers. The link between emotions, learning, and memory I realised while studying educational psychology at university that there is a connection between emotions and memory storage. Every time, I thought about some teachers who belittled us at school, and the stress associated with the memory resurfaced. Research in the last two decades confirmed my idea at university that there is a link between emotions, learning, and memory. Brain regions, such as the amygdala and hippocampus, are involved in encoding emotional memories and linking them. Emotions play a crucial role in the formation and retrieval of memories. A study reveals that heightened emotional experiences, for example, stress, tend to be remembered more vividly and with greater detail. A different approach to teaching As a newbie teacher 42 years ago I decided to approach teaching differently than what I experienced at school. I endeavoured to make learning more fun and to involve students in the learning process. One of my ideas was to encourage learning using positive reinforcement and real-life related hands-on projects whenever possible. It is not always possible due to time constraints when one is teaching to meet standards posted by educational departments. Strategies I use to make students part of the learning process I believe in involving students in the learning decision-making process. Why, you might ask? If students are involved in their learning, they own the concepts they learn. They often get excited and passionate about what they learn. At the beginning of a unit or theme, I asked students to create a thinking cloud. They add pre-existing knowledge already learned and list topics they would like to learn about related to that specific unit. Their mind maps turned into a tool to establish what they already know. It can be used to identify essential shortfalls that need to be addressed before we learn new concepts.
It also showed their passions and interests within the theme. It makes it easy to connect with them on a whole different level. Paying the concepts forward As a previous middle school coordinator, I shared what I learned with all teachers. I did so by planning a cross-curricular unit of inquiry, “A World of Symbols,” for a Grade 6 group. The guiding question was, “How do we use symbols to represent important information in a global world?” At an assembly, the students and different Grade 6 teachers brainstormed the guiding question, dotting their ideas down. Students wrote down ideas they were interested in, and the teachers did the same. We organised their concepts and ideas into subject themes. The next step was to formulate 2-3 subject-specific questions about the topics that they would like to investigate. We combined the students’ and teachers’ questions into a larger unit mind map. Interestingly, the students mentioned ideas the teachers planned to include in their taught curriculum. As a result, the students saw the interconnectedness of different subjects - the bigger picture, so to speak. Ideas such as symbols and symbolism in poetry, literature, and languages were mentioned. We expanded student and teacher ideas into art, design, music, mathematics, science, computer sciences, and social sciences. Teachers realised the importance of including students in the written subject curriculum decision-making process. From their list of questions, students chose a question for their projects, which they presented to their peers after 3 weeks, in addition to having learned concepts and skills in their different subjects. These individual projects included some ideas such as the Fibonacci code, the importance of subject-related symbols, powerful historical symbols of past generations in history, and symbolism in the arts. As a result of this approach, students felt they owned the curriculum and were interested to learn new ideas and concepts. Making learning interesting I am currently involved in an entrepreneurship project with my sixth-grade students. They need to think about a new product they can design, or a simple business idea.
The idea behind the project is to stimulate their creativity and interest, and make learning a fun activity. They might come up with a viable product or business they can pursue at a later stage in their lives. The children smiled when I informed them that I would take 10% of their profits if their product or business became a great future business. We investigated why logos and slogans can be effective as a brand strategy. Students are expected to use persuasive language in an advertisement to market their product or business. They are absorbed in the project and I am impressed with some of their products and business ideas. In addition, they enjoy the project and learn concepts in a fun and authentic way. Conclusion To wrap up, positive reinforcement, including students in the learning process and decisions, coupled with individual project work, helps to empower students. In addition, it motivates them to participate in the learning process if they find the work stimulating and relating to their passions. Jason Edmunds is a seasoned educator and creative writer from Nunatsiavut, recognized with the Parks Canada CEO Award and the RCGS Martin Bergmann Medal for Excellence in Arctic Leadership Original article published here: https://medium.com/read-or-die/learning-journeys-d841796c811c KEY reflections At KEY academy, we believe that education should be an enlightening journey, where students are more than just passive recipients of knowledge. We see the value in involving learners in the decision-making process, making them active participants who own their learning experience. This approach increases their passion and creativity, making learning both fun and deeply engaging. Our project-based learning approach makes use of real-life, hands-on projects to connect concepts with the interests of students. By encouraging creativity, critical thinking, and active involvement, we empower our learners to explore, experiment, and innovate in meaningful ways. We’re committed to fostering a supportive learning environment that values emotional well-being and intellectual growth. At KEY academy, every learner's journey is a chance to grow into a confident, creative, and resilient problem-solver who is ready to take on the challenges of the world.
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