It’s a delicate balancing act. As we’ve explored in this series so far, the benefits of personalized learning, when looking at an individual student, can seem like a silver bullet.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom after all, creating lesson plans around students’ interests, learning styles, and skill levels sounds like a surefire way to increase engagement and outcomes in the classroom.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

“they’re put into another advisory at that time with a math specialist. But even within that class they’re not only learning those skills, they’re then learning to apply those skills and the why.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom why am I learning this math? And how is this going to relate to my life and what I might want to do? So I think we really try to address the ‘why’ as much as possible so that kids can get a meaningful experience, they don’t get bored in school, their attendance is high and they see the purpose.”

cognitive learning theory in the classroom

“snakes are great, but what are you going to do with that. In five years there aren’t just snake jobs around. So what can you do? And we identified the fact that one of the things he loved doing was explaining and answering all the questions of his younger nephews when they would come over to the house and ask the questions, ‘what does it eat?Cognitive learning theory in the classroom how do you feed it? How do you clean it?'” brian says.

“so we designed an experience for his senior thesis project where he would go into a kindergarten classroom.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom and he designed a whole experiment where you had two different kindergarten classrooms, one classroom would actually house the snake for a month.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom it would live there. And he would come in one or two days a week and just kind of provide care for the snake, and the students would watch him and ask questions.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom and he would do like live feedings right there in the classroom. And they got to name the snake. They all got to interact with it,” says brian.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

“I think about the the fact that when that student came to me he had very little success in high school. He transferred in because things were not working out for him.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom and what would that have been like if that student didn’t get to come here and say, ‘I like snakes what can we do with that?’ and design his own project work.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom and by his own admission that student says there is very little chance that they would have completed high school successfully if they weren’t able to ask their own questions, and find material that engaged them because they were passionate about it,” brian shares.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

“we start off with some really basic team building and relationship building in ninth grade where one of the first projects we do is a ‘who am I’ project.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom A lot of the kids don’t know yet, like they don’t know how they fit into society, how they can use their skills to make a difference. And asking them that, often the kids are getting that for the first time, is a great process, so we go through that together.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom we spend a lot of time getting to know each other because we’re gonna be together for four years. I want to know where this kid is coming from,” says brian

cognitive learning theory in the classroom

“so now, here we are in 11th grade. The pathway isn’t really that different but we’ve identified that for her postsecondary pathway, she needs to still go and get her bachelor’s in nursing, but now she should be minoring in education because she wants to be able to graduate and be a school nurse teacher.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom if the student didn’t have those opportunities to try working in a hospital setting, to try working in an elementary setting and meet these different people who are doing jobs that she was more or less unaware of what they were really like, the kid wouldn’t be able to do that.”

cognitive learning theory in the classroom

Students and advisors both know that advisors can’t be the experts in everything, so these mentors also help students identify certification or community college classes that students can take.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom A great example might be student who’s looking to work in a kitchen one day, that kid might want to knock out their servsafe certification. These certifications also act as a way to measure competencies for students.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

“students have to exhibit their work at least three times a year. They are usually a panel of like 15 or so of their peers, parents or guardians are expected to show up during that time.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom sometimes a mentor is able to show up depending on the flexibility of their work schedule. So they present for about anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour on everything they’ve learned, or everything they’ve valued that they learned during that semester, and they are then given feedback and asked questions by the panel,” explains keith.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

“personalized learning is simply putting the student in the driver’s seat and trusting them to choose a destination, or at least a starting point, and then saying yes.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom and I think it can be daunting to a lot of teachers to let a student to do that and say, ‘well, you know, students, they don’t want to work that hard.’ and I find that’s not true.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom students want to work hard at things that are important to them. So having the trust that students do want to learn is a fundamental part of doing this,” he says.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

“if I’m a social studies teacher and my student wants to learn a lot about math and I say, ‘well I’ll help you with anything but math.’ I think that’s such a disservice because there’s tons of math that you can learn through social studies.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom it’s just a matter of being willing to say that the kid might know more than you about a certain topic. But it’s not that I need to be the expert I need to role model how to learn.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom I think that any good teacher should be able to to perform that duty. So this personalized learning piece requires us to be willing to play catch up with the student,” he says.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

“because certainly of course, I had a great benefit from going to a traditional school. But I also had a great detriment. Like I wasted a lot of my time.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom so I think that’s a really fundamental question to ask is, when we’re comparing one against the other, like where are those benefits? But I haven’t had anybody come to me and yet offer me a good argument as to how personalized learning hurts my students.”

cognitive learning theory in the classroom

From snakes, to nursing, to traditional vocations like plumbing and electricity work — the met school has helped students follow their interests, and carve their own paths in the world for over twenty years.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom and it seems to be working — with the hechinger report finding that the met school beats the state’s average graduation rate — 90 percent compared to 84 percent.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

And as students’ interests shift and change, and the outlets for educational opportunities expand, more districts are looking for ways to engage those students.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom currently, providence public schools is using the met school as a model as it begins to embrace personalized learning. And starting in 2016, rhode island launched a personalized learning initiative.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

You are invited to join teach plus and teach plus rhode island fellows at the MET school in providence, RI on saturday, june 8th for a day of learning and conversation around promising practices in personalized and student-centered learning.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom come as a participant or apply to present! The agenda will include guest speakers, teacher led workshops and self-guided break out sessions, as well as breakfast and lunch provided.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom learn more and register for this free conference.