Imagine an eighth-grade history class where students are instructed to assume the roles of statesmen representing Italy, France, Germany, Russia, Britain, and Austria-Hungry in the summer of 1914.
In sealed envelopes, students are provided with lists of desired outcomes to promote, as well as consequences to prevent, through diplomatic means with the other European powers. Throughout their negotiations, they develop an understanding of the political, territorial and economic conflicts that create a complex web of alliances and threaten each country’s national goals.
After a period of heated discussions, students reach compromises and are on the brink of achieving primary objectives when the teacher reads a news flash announcing the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, by ethnic Serb and Yugoslav nationalists. New tensions in the Balkans cause their hard-fought alliances to fall into chaos. Though each of the envelopes contains the directive to avoid World War I, the students begin to comprehend just how difficult it was to prevent one of the most devastating events in human history.
Good schools know that active learning, such as this exercise in a history class, is one of the keys to engaging students. While students should be intellectually challenged through a range of problem-solving activities, they also need to grapple with complex, and at times contradictory information. Learning often needs to be messy to have an influence.
However, many educational systems don’t encourage this level of complexity and as a result, student engagement suffers. According to a Gallup Student Poll, most students experience a rapid decline in their engagement and learning at school; 80 percent reported being engaged in elementary school, but that slipped to 60 percent in middle school then to 40 percent in high school.
To address that decline, educators need to propose and implement changes that transform students from passive consumers of facts into active contributors who tackle problems, formulate ideas and propose original solutions.
As students progress through the grades, schools can help them become more comfortable living amidst tension from opposing forces and ideas. And when engagement begins to decline as students enter middle school, schools need to tap into their growing appreciation for the gray areas of complex decisions. By doing so, students can begin to understand that countries, organizations, and individuals are neither entirely good nor bad. They can think in more expansive ways.
Another way to heighten student engagement is through hands-on projects, games and competitions, and conducting laboratory experiments that have real world applications.
For example, a science teacher may challenge students to develop new ways to germinate endangered orchids. Students would need to consider how flowers are germinated in the wild and the variables that lead to higher germination rates that could then be replicated in a laboratory setting. Through trial and error, students could create hypotheses that lead to higher success rates and then focus on replicating the ideal conditions for successful germination. And over months or even years, students could make modifications to their procedures based on what they learned as they grow orchids in their lab.
This method of learning scientific principles lies in stark contrast to a teacher who lectures using a PowerPoint while students take guided notes, read a section in their textbook and answer questions at the end of the chapter. Instead, actively involved students who are given the opportunity to formulate hypotheses to solve real world problems are much more likely retain what they learn and apply new principles to solve future problems.
Finally, to maximize student engagement, teachers should foster a sense of independence and autonomy for learning skills that will become increasingly important in high school and college. When students are given the opportunity to assess their own understanding and determine where and how they need to learn to foster success, such skills are strengthened.
Fortunately, these goals coincide with the desire of most students to become less reliant on their teachers and more autonomous in their learning as they progress through school. This process may not be as complicated as reaching diplomatic solutions in Europe circa 1914 or require as much perseverance as developing innovative ways to germinate endangered orchids, but the knowledge that students develop through engaged learning can build essential skill sets and establish important habits for learning that will lead to many important achievements along the way.
Brad Choyt is head of school at Crossroads Academy in Lyme. The Valley News welcomes the perspectives of local educators. Contact Alex Hanson at ahanson@vnews.com or 603-727-3207.