Helping Things Click, Brick-by-Brick: America’s Great Shut-in is a Chance to Engage Students in Deeper Learning
Forced distance learning will certainly accelerate public schools’ evolution, but that evolution should not be limited to improving technology.
Tressa Pankovits is Associate Director, Reinventing America’s Schools Project at Progressive Policy Institute
My 10-year-old nephew, like most American kids, is “doing school” at home. An only child, he misses his friends, is not learning as much as he would in the classroom (by his own and his parents’ admission), and is often-times bored.
I ordered him a Lego Star Wars space fighter with a gazillion pieces to occupy him (and to give my sister some peace). He astounded me by putting it together in hours. During our “thank you−you’re welcome” video chat, the conversation drifted to the challenges of his confinement. He imaginatively listed places he plans to visit after the pandemic recedes. Tokyo was at the top, but every other place on his list was a far-flung historical site.
My first thought was, “good luck with that.”
My second thought was a lightbulb moment.
After a quick check−yes, Lego, makes kits for many monuments, buildings and city skylines−we made a deal. I would send him as many sets as he wanted, one at a time, in exchange for a written report on the edifice he’d just built. Reports would include history, architectural significance, milestone events, and so on. I warned him I would critique his English, including spelling and grammar, and would help him correct mistakes.
He’s working on the Great Wall of China now, having whipped out the Empire State Building in under a week. His report needed some work, so we edited it together, remotely. He now knows, among other things, the difference between the active and passive voice−something that I wasn’t taught… I mean, something they didn’t teach me, until college.
What he is learning may not square with the typical fourth-grade curriculum, but it doesn’t matter. He is engaged, anticipating each project. Also, at the end of it, there is no test. On anything. Every state, plus Puerto Rico and the Bureau of Indian Education, has canceled this year’s standardized tests, due to coronavirus.
Standardized testing has been debated for years. The familiar phrase, “teaching to the test” is a shorthand slur condemning testing as harmful to students, stressful for teachers and a drain on classroom time.
But there are good arguments for standardized testing. Tests are designed to be objective, unlike classroom grades, which can be “wildly uneven” across schools and districts. Periodic benchmark testing on material just taught provides critical information about “gaps” in what a student has learned, revealing what Kahn Academy founder Sal Kahn calls a “swiss cheese” education. Teachers use those test results to prescribe academic interventions to resolve those knowledge gaps, which vary from student to student. Annual high stakes tests can inform parents how their child compares to statewide peers. They are a tool for holding schools accountable, and for informing parents about school quality. They are effective for comparing school performance, if academic growth, rather than proficiency, is measured.
Regardless, they aren’t happening this year. The coronavirus disruption, which Kahn described in a recent webinar as “education now freed from the confines of time and space,” is an ideal opportunity for parents to observe their children’s unpressured, self-directed learning. My nephew’s daily schedule includes several blocks of “independent reading.” Other classroom schedules include blocks of “independent learning.” What are they reading? What are they choosing to learn?
Students untethered from antiquated curriculum and instruction are basically being invited to learn about whatever interests them. Kahn expressed his surprise at observing his daughter’s passion for making up recipes in the kitchen. Parents−and aunts−paying attention have a window like never before into children’s interests and aptitudes.
A survey found that 88 percent of high schoolers are bored in school all or some of the time, while another found middle schoolers bored in class 32 percent of the time.
Maybe this is why, amongst developed nations, the U.S. ranks 18th or worse in high school graduation and in the bottom half in math, science, and reading proficiency.
Research has proven that students who are engaged−interested, motivated, actively participating−better absorb the lesson at hand. If a kid is into sports, encourage him to use NBA statistics to learn math. If she’s not reading a book assigned for a report, work with the teacher to find one that’s more interesting to her. There is some content that students simply must learn, but if we wrap it into projects they want to do, they will learn so much more.
This a good lesson for parents. But it is an imperative lesson for our schools. Forced distance learning will certainly accelerate public schools’ evolution, but that evolution should not be limited to improving technology. It should include engaging kids in learning through projects that spark their excitement, while also ensuring that they develop the core competencies they need to succeed in college or career. If schools would do this going forward, test scores would likely take care of themselves.
My nephew won’t get out of exams in future years, and that’s perfectly fine. He’s equally unlikely to visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa anytime soon, but he’s building it next week. His writing will continue to improve, and his imagination about several historical monuments will become informed, until someday, he visits them all.
