In my final post from students at a typical US High School, I end on an upbeat note: what students say is the best assignment they have had this year. Again, I picked the first 50 answers at random:
- Earlier in the school year, we dissected frogs. Although they smelled, it was pretty fun.
- In psychology we were taught about the different ways you could test a hypothesis and prove/disprove them. The teacher that I had had us run our own study. I tested people’s levels of bias. I dressed in all black, dyed my hair dark, and got my lip and nose pierced. It is honestly the best way I’ve ever been taught because I actually used the knowledge I’ve obtained.
- Bungee jumping Barbie in AP stats
- In my politics class we created political parties and conducted an election. It was interesting to have the debates and find what beliefs are related to me. I thoroughly enjoyed this activity and learned a lot about the political world
- Making posters on the iPads using images, self made images, text, and audio to explain a concept (anatomy). Using iBooks.
- I had a remix project in MPI and it was fun because I was able to have a lot of creative freedom.
- A band concert.
- Make a movie.
- In AP English, we had to read an independent book and then give a 25 minute presentation. It was a great learning process that really improved my speaking
- The twenty minute presentation that helped prepare me for speeches including ones that are a lot shorter.
- Dropping a Barbie in math class
- The most interesting work I was asked to do in class in the last few months was probably in my advanced English class. We had to pick a personal hero and write a paper about what they did that was heroic. It had to be an unsung hero and find a song that reminds you of them and make a visual as you presented to the project.
- Science labs, we outside sometimes and worked with many different things.
- Dissecting things in anatomy to see how their organs compare to humans
- Rock climbing, it felt nice to do something different and go on a field trip, and take a nice break from school
- I thought that making your own nation in politics was extremely interesting and fun. It was interesting because it gave us students the ability to design our perfect environment.
- Writing papers on a controversial topic is always fun since you’re able to fight for something you believe in for a grade
- Making a poster about a disease in anatomy because it showed me what are certain diseases are that I didn’t know about
- We had to do an egg drop activity In one of my physics class. I enjoyed this because it was actually something that teens were interested in, and the project was relatively easy and still invested you to think a little bit too.
- Giving a speech about a someone who was my hero. Also doing a fun poster board on a person.
- I enjoy doing history projects that have to do with your own families history. It’s
- interesting and easier since it has a connection to you.
- Egg drop in science
- Unsung hero project. Kurt Cobain is my bro
- Rube Goldberg in physics because that’s awesome it allows us to use our creativity to the max capacity
- In English we did many writings about ourselves and what our current interests are so we could look back on our high school selves later
- I used to love going on field trips as a child because they help me with staying interested in the unit and relating it to real life and not feel like I’m just learning pointless stuff out of a text book. In anatomy we just went on a field trip to body worlds and it was very interesting and I learned a lot.
- Nothing
- Dissecting many different things in anatomy. It is interesting to see the inside of body’s and body parts to see how they look instead of just pictures.
- In anatomy we have dissected a lot of interesting things. I particularly enjoyed
- dissecting deer hearts. It is not often you hold a real heart so that was interesting
- 10 page research paper
- To play sports in PE class on teams competitively
- The Barbie bungee jump. It was funny to do.
- crime in America the design a prison project it was fun and cool
- The activities and labs in both physics and anatomy made it very enjoyable to be in class during these years. It made actually think about how this could be put into the real world and actually study for such tests
- Anatomy labs because I like to learn about the human body with hands on labs
- For our AP French class we had to construct a resume and cover letter for a foreign French related career opportunity that we found. This is interesting as we earned a highly useful life skill that should’ve been taught in another class but also because we got to explore opportunities around the world.
- I like designing and performing my own labs in AP bio because it allows for ultimate freedom and creativity.
- I don’t know
- We had to stand in a tight circle and join hands. We had to make a jumble of limbs and untangle ourselves without letting go of each other’s hands. It was fun and entertaining.
- Dissections in anatomy class. It was something that most students don’t get to do a lot so it’s a rare opportunity
- Creative writing essays. I liked doing the poems unit. I was able to express myself and not get so hardly graded for my opinion on what creative writing is.
- There is really not that many interesting things in this school. Honestly learning could be so much better with more interactive teaching and having fun not notes and looking at a board the whole hour every hour.
- In anatomy we dissected a rat which was incredibly interesting and allowed me to understand the subject we were learning a lot better. Science is very challenging, but I enjoy it.
- Business class, the entrepreneur challenge. I liked it a lot.
- Make my own school and create a learning curriculum to get students interested.
By the way: over the years of asking this question, animal dissection is far and away the most repeatedly mentioned activity.
Compare the many patterns here with the answers to how students best learn and what their advice is to teachers to improve class and the conclusions seem obvious, don’t they?
What, then, is preventing the typical HS teacher from responding to the consistent feedback?
15 Responses
Grant, you did a beautiful job on this survey. I found it atypical, as I did this high school, the students, their classes, the teachers, the class projects, and the student insights. On a micro level, it seems fun, interest and challenge are the components that comprise learning. On a macro level, it seems happiness is the secret motive of all that both students and teachers do–and of all they are willing to endure.
I wonder do students and teachers bring “happy” from home to school, or do they find it at school and perhaps take “happy” home? The answer to this might contain an insight into why some students are motivated and others not–as well as the key to professional fulfillment in teachers.
Rick, you raise an important question. What people bring to the table surely matters. But what seems very clear from all the data is that students want, respond to, and do better in an environment that is more stimulating and relevant. And that’s the good news: in our control as educators.
As a high school teacher, I have heard time and time again from teachers that these “activities” you list do not prepare students for college. Students need to be prepared for the college experience of lecture halls and sages on the stage. Therefore, as a high school teacher, I need to replicate this for my students. Those students who cannot handle this type of teaching should be weeded out.
For me, when students are give the opportunity to engage in, and apply higher level thinking, they embrace, and perhaps more importantly, succeed in the challenge. This means I have to spend more time producing hands-on activities, and reduce the amount of “stuff” students need to know.
On the contrary, these activities more fully prepare students for good colleges and universities. Universities and colleges which only have “lecture halls and sages on stage” are not providing what I would label good education. You may want to visit some of the better universities and colleges in your area to familiarize yourself with what they are doing.
I’m also concerned about your comment that students need to be “weeded out”. Actually, we want all of our children to learn. They may learn at their own pace, but they need to be learning- not competing for a few spots at universities where they are 1 out of 500 kids in a lecture hall.
Your last paragraph hits the nail on the head. The high stakes testing and scope and pacing of mandated top down curriculum has made it very difficult for teachers to produce and do hands on activities. With the reduced school year (1/2 the year is devoted to testing days) and the mandated scope of material, there is not enough time for students to dwell in their learning of a subject. It’s terrible because the process of learning is exactly what prepares students for college and beyond. We have forgotten that somehow.
Mark, I’m curious about who you heard that message from, that an all-lectures approach prepares students for college…?
And btw, in project-based learning, which is what I think these comments point to, there is still room for occasional lectures. Listening & note-taking are good skills to learn, for sure, but that shouldn’t be all there is in high school. If students are bored out of their minds, is that really encouraging them to pursue further education?
My comments here apply to all the survey posts:
I’ve been at three schools, and the PE failure rate has always been astronomical–something like 1 in 5. I’ve read enough to know it’s a common problem. Failure to dress is the big issue, found equally among boys and girls. Moreover, athletes never take PE. So I’m really, really skeptical of that result. It sounds to me like they’re kidding around.
Science? Now, I grant you, it’s the one subject I don’t teach, but the failure rate again at all the schools I’ve taught at is astronomical. Certainly, I don’ see much evidence in the national data that kids are doing well at science, or that they like it best. I wonder was “no response” an option? Like “all school is horrible”?
I think our student population is so diverse that averages can be misleading. I do not see the reality of the schools I teach, or even the reality of the schools I read about, reflected in your survey data. I’m not criticizing you or the survey, just responding honestly about my doubts about it.
I also wonder at many of the answers I’ve seen (not just in your survey, but generally). For example, yes, the students want more group work. Occasionally, my students tell me that I should give them more “group work”. But my students sit in groups, work in groups, tackle tasks without direct instruction in groups. So why would they be asking me? Because what they mean by “group work” are tests that they can do together, projects they can submit and get an A. Some students want this because they want an A. Other students just don’t want to do the work and want to ensure they pass. But rest assured, none of them want group work because they find it pedagogically the best way to learn.
I’m not cynical, nor am I blaming the students. I’m just really hesitant to take students desires at face value. In my pretty extensive experience with kids of all demographics, perhaps 10% of students are genuinely interested in learning. ANother 15% want grades to get to college or make their parents happy. The rest are marking time. I believe we can do more to get them engaged. I’m just not sure we should be taking their preferences seriously.
As a related example, I just wrote a piece about my experiences with a group of students who routinely referred to another math teacher as ignorant, a guy who didn’t know what he was doing, which “everyone knew”. Except they were wrong.
http://educationrealist.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/learning-from-mr-singh/
Similarly, students have a lot of fixed notions about what’s wrong with school. And I’m pretty sure they’re wrong about them, too.
I respectfully disagree with most of what you say here. These results have been stable over many years and multiple surveys. And if you look at why science is popular it’s pretty clear why, as it correlates with other answers. The kids want a more engaging and intellectually stimulating experience – period.
I know the results have been stable. that’s partly why I doubt them.
Failure to dress is not an option at my 2200 student suburban school. If a student does not have PE clothes, we have an extra set; if the student doesn’t have gym shoes, the student can still work out on the elliptical. This approach shows students we care and failure is not an option.
I must say that not taking “students desires at face value” is disheartening. When I first started teaching I felt the same way. But I have been swayed over my 19 years of teaching by what the research says motivates students and my own action research. Grant tweeted this blog post on student motivation:
http://pragmaticreform.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/motivation-emotion/
Look at what the research says about teachers’ beliefs and how they impact student motivation. While I respect your years of experience, we, as a profession, have to look at what research says and move away from teacher preference and folklore.
Talk about false dichotomies. Doubting this survey does not mean I think student preferences are irrelevant.
As a parent, I care about what my son wanted and needed. It didn’t mean I took his desires as a child or teenager as gospel. The idea that I should do anything different as a teacher is absurd.
one bottom line is most surely this: That teachers teach how they were taught. For high school teachers, their own HS experiences are certainly influential–and if they were “good students,” they may believe even more strongly that those methods (good and bad) “worked” for them. The college learning experience may be an even bigger influence, as it’s the one HS teachers usually come off of into HS teaching.
On a related note, a recent NYT article on job fulfillment in the American workplace has interesting implications for this discussion, not only when it comes to teachers but also as we think about today’s high schoolers’ in tomorrow’s jobs and workplaces:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/opinion/sunday/why-you-hate-work.html?_r=0
I tweeted the same study! Very important link to these surveys – thanks. And, yes, we often teach as we were taught. That can only be the key factor as long as pre-service training and PD are poor and when insufficient video and live models are regularly offered of best practices in each subject.
For those commentators who think that these are the gripes of lazy, feckless students, you may want to investigate this Canadian study
http://www.cea-ace.ca/publication/2012-wdydist-research-series-report-one-relationship-between-student-engagement-and-acad
which points to a widespread phenomenon: students who are successful in school, but are bored stiff by the experiences offered there.
I truly hope that we have no teacher who would dismiss a student as just lazy. But even if a student is lazy (and many have lazy habits and attitudes for various reasons), we need to secure their motivation. Curriculum should not be solely based on the student comments. But they need to be considered.
Not all students will be captured by more active teaching and learning…but we will never reach perfection. My question to anyone who doubts that active classes are more popular for most students is this: what do you enjoy? Would you rather learn something in a hands-on manner that allows you to manipulate, play with, make mistakes, fix them, and eventually master, or do you prefer to have someone read to you for an hour, then take a pen and paper test? It is simple, really.
I would agree wholeheartedly that most of our PD is AWFUL. Our teachers need good examples, and they need more time to talk, watch, and learn. However funding is so short that we are headed in the opposite direction from what smaller learning communities and professional learning communities offered. Our training is uneven at best for pre-service teachers. We had a student teacher quit on us last year because “I never knew how hard this job would be”…and our school is far from a tough environment.
The answer? Let the experts (good active learning adept teachers) be the ones teaching struggling teachers what to do and what not to do. Allow time for development of good lessons and good assessments. Give students choices in their education. Unfortunately, and again, I believe cynically that no matter what we do our system is under attack by those who would profit from tearing it down and replacing it with a mostly private model. I sincerely hope I am wrong, but living in Missouri and bordering Kansas, I see it very strongly around here.