Making Learning Relevant for Kids

I attended the American Educational Research Association's national conference recently.  There's some incredible research going on out there, but I often worry that these findings are not making it into the hands of teachers.  So I'm sharing some of what I learned in this post.

One interesting session I attended focused on Utility Statements.  Utility statements are statements that the teacher makes explicitly stating the usefulness for what the students are learning.  I equate this idea to relevance; letting students know that what they are learning will in fact be useful someday.  These perceptions can really increase learning and improve attitude.  What was interesting in one study was that the more teachers used utility statements while teaching, the more clarity students had on the utility for what they were learning.  In another study, middle school students wrote essays that were later coded for perceptions of utility.  What they found was that when teachers used utility statements directed at a specific student, the utility perceptions of that student increased dramatically.

My take away from this session is that we need to make a effort to EXPLICITLY share the usefulness of what students are learning.  Where will they use it? What are some examples?  What are some jobs that might need this skill?

I think the perfect way to teach with this idea of utility is Project Based Learning (PBL).  Students apply all sorts of skills in a useful way to tackle a project.  I've been a big advocate of PBL in previous posts, and I continue to create Project Based Learning products in my store.  The feedback I receive from buyers really shows that students are learning and highly engaged in these projects.

I've combined my current creations into one bundle so you can engage your students in Project Based Learning throughout the year.  Give it a click and see more details on the projects.  Each project is also available individually.