inspiration

[Booalready]

Originally Posted by lukkucairi

Good question.

Learning for learning's sake can be a big turn-off for kids - think of whatever class you were forced to take in high school that you just knew you'd never use in adult life, and how much you hated it, and what a big waste of time it felt like. Chances are, you are using that learning in your adult life, but in ways you didn't expect and that weren't explained or shown to you.

Yes. Kids hate things they learn only because the interest level and application of the learning is perceived to be low. (Studied and proven.) Adults hate this too. But even given standard school curricula there has until recently been only the limitation of a teacher's creativity to make the learning quality. Recent attempts at measuring outcomes with national and state tests have led to a clamp on much of the creativity that did exist in education. Teach to the test is about it and kids do not like.

But that actually address some of the guidelines of what they will and won't fund. Learning, in order to prove it is there needs some form of progress assessment of that learning. So you have to define what the desired learning is, those typically are called standards or outcomes or objectives. They are measured on standardized tests currently, this project could open up a whole new set of standards (they actually use some of that type of language) as well as forms of measurement of those standards.

They will not fund a project without a learning component, so defining the objectives is important when constructing content but also and the part that is proof of learning is the assessment of it. Creating that can be something that allows for you to ensure that learning is applicable and enjoyable. The traditional bitter pill at the end of the lesson need not be (nor a typical end). You can assess learning with something like this by writing and applying a rubric that contains your objectives and describes levels of mastery.

Rubrics for the new landscape can be fierce and fun and wholly applicable to student lives.