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You
are here: Applied Learning:
Perspectives from Researchers and Practitioners
submitted by Dan Keller
"I think our TAAS language arts test results really support what current research tells us . . . if language arts skills and concepts are taught within the context of a meaningful whole, they are learned more easily, and they are retained longer." --Judy Zimmy, principal, Hotchkiss Elementary School, Texas.
"The combination of academic learning with applications provides superior pedagogy for all learners." --Quality Education: School Reform for the New American Economy. U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1994
"Performance tasks should call upon students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a manner that reflects the world outside the classroom." --Jay McTighe, "What Happens Between Assessments?" Educational Leadership 54 (4), 6-12
"We're a species that's been around 4 million years. Our species hasn't survived by taking in a lot of stuff that didn't have meaning to us. So it has to have meaning to students, and it has to have functionality." --Susan Kovalik, author, Integrated Thematic Instruction
"The complexity of the brain's learning means educators should orchestrate complex experiences. The gap is between a holistic or complex view of learning, and the more specific, direct-intervention approach." --Caine, Renate Nummela and Geoffrey Caine, Making Connections: Teaching and the Human Brain. Alexandria, VA: ASCD Publications, 1991
"We didn't learn to use an index as an isolated skill. We learned it as we pursued information we needed because we were engaged in meaningful inquiry." --Bobbi Fisher, first grade teacher, Joshua Haynes School, Sudbury, MA
"If we asked our students for the highlight of their school careers, most would choose a time when they dedicated themselves to an endeavor of great importance . . . On projects such as these, youngsters will work before school, after school, during lunch. Our children want to work on endeavors they deem significant." --Lucy Calkins, Living Between the Lines. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational Books, Inc.
"When I taught the kids math skills like measuring, in the classroom, they forgot it and couldn't make use of it. When the students had a chance to use these skills on our nature trail, they not only learned better but could apply and remember their math skills longer." -- Kim Flynn, math teacher, Jackson County Middle School, Kentucky
"When teams of educators use elements of the real world as focal points for learning and teaching, they help students strengthen a variety of academic skills. They can also guide students toward a deeper understanding of the concepts that span traditional disciplinary boundaries and which are extremely difficult to effectively teaching using conventional, classroom-bound methods." -- Lieberman, Gerald A. Ph.D. and Linda Hoody, Closing the Achievement Gap, San Diego, CA State Education Roundtable
"Active pedagogy illustrates perfectly the constructive, hands-on teaching strategies recommended by the academic standards . . . To make high standards a reality, and to prepare all students for both work and study, schools need to forge new alliances between the applied and the academic." --Susan L. Forman and Lynn Arthur Steen, "Applied Academics". Education Week, 10/16/96
"I can't imagine my students achieving the state standards without applied learning." --Donna Kapustka, 4th grade teacher, Lake Forest Park Elementary, Shoreline WA
"That WASL math test problem was just like our applied learning project - except it was a lot easier!" --4th grade student, North City Elementary, Shoreline, WA
You may contact Dan Keller at kellerd@edmonds.wednet.edu
Posted with permission October 2001 by
New Horizons for Learning
http://www.newhorizons.org
E-mail: info@newhorizons.orgFor permission to redistribute, please go to:
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