Schools Fail to Engage Students

A recent study followed 1000 students starting when they were three years old and finished when they were 17 years old (which is now). The study, by a University of Virginia education professor, found little evidence of education that engages students or helps them learn to think and solve problems. Here’s a quote from an article about the study:

“We don’t see much opportunity for kids to be actively engaged in projects, or teachers interacting with kids individually or in small groups, in ways that could stimulate learning,” he said. “Students learn more math and become more literate when the instruction is focused not just on whether the kids know the right or wrong answer but encouraging understanding on a deeper conceptual level.”

I am an advocate for engaged, project based, collaborative learning – focused on real-world problems. I believe this is one of the only ways to break the bonds that have isolated school and education from the rest of life. We know far too much about the brain and how people actually learn to continue to have 90% of classrooms providing passive learning (lectures).

Access the rest of the article here.

Changing Education