Brains-on Learning

 My teaching philosophy has evolved over the years I have spent in the classroom as I have come to

better know students and how they learn. Though it has evolved it has always centered around a few

key facets. I have always held to the belief that teaching should start with the standards and students

should have high expectations set before them. I also believe in using inquiry and hands-on activities to

make the classroom more student-centered. I have also always tried to incorporate as much technology

into my classroom as possible. This of course reached an all time high during COVID when 90% of my

students were at home. 

J. Handler (2015) asks several thought provoking questions during his TED talk on technology in education, the first being Should classrooms today be the same as they were when we went to school? This straight row, facing forward classroom is the one I attempt to avoid. To get students engaged in brains-on learning they need to be interacting with the material. This was a challenge during COVID as my classroom uses many manipulatives. How would I engage students at home? How could I design digital learning experiences to provide them with the best education? There was some trial and error. If only I had known about Bates (2015) SECTIONS model that I could have used to guide my media selection. Instead I did what Mackenzie (2002) says teachers have been doing: “Teachers have always made the best of whatever they’ve got at hand, but it’s what we have to work with. Teachers make due”(sic). The ‘T’ questions would have been the most useful, thinking about the pedagogical usages of the media. 

I believe in setting very high expectations for my students. I tell them from the first day that I expect them to come to class always ready to learn, to attempt all activities presented before them with their best effort and to seek help for themselves before they come and say they can’t do something. I also expect them to self assess and determine where their deficiencies lay so they can better prepare themselves for success. I have been a student in classes over the years where the teacher did not make me aware of any expectation other than to complete some worksheet or other much less high expectations. Students generally have an inherent desire to please and want to meet the expectations set before them. The higher the expectations the higher the student can achieve. When designing for instruction on a digital platform it is important to remember that “there will be a wide range of differences in prior knowledge, language skills, and preferred study styles.” (Bates, 2015) I am excited about maintaining my high expectations while ensuring the learning experiences I design are accessible for all learners. 

I have always tried to incorporate inquiry labs/activities, it has been a long process to get where I am today. When I was an undergrad we were encouraged to use some inquiry labs instead of always doing cookbook labs. This is something that I really struggled with at the time and for several years I was very anti anything that was labeled as inquiry because when i tried to do them they always crashed and burned. During my masters program inquiry was again suggested and I went through several workshops about how to transform labs from traditional cookbook labs to inquiry based labs. Still I struggled with this premise. I was asking my students to go about learning in one manner in the classroom but then expecting them to go about labs in a completely different manner. The few students who would buy in and give the inquiry their all were very successful and learned the material much better than those who didn't. When I was working on my national board certification I started trying to incorporate inquiry into every facet of my classroom. This began with inquiry focused activities still mixed with traditional classroom lecture, it has evolved into a student centered classroom focused on inquiry learning. The students come to my room expecting to figure things out and make their own decisions. My goal is for learners to look forward to the learning experiences I create because they know they will learn and they know they will be challenged. 

Inquiry is so much more than what type of activities or labs that you do, it is about

creating a culture of inquiry in your classroom. Many times my colleagues and I will refer to this as a productive struggle as some topics are more of a struggle than others, and sometimes kids are overwhelmed with everything else and just not in a mood to struggle. I remind my students often that during these struggles it is not about the right answer, it is about making a decision, justifying that decision, seeing what the results are, and then learning from the results whether they were good or bad.

It is much more important with today’s technology than it ever has been before to create this culture of inquiry in the classroom. Students can find an answer to any question at the touch of their fingers, many have stopped trying to learn and have started trying to do everything they can to pass their classes without actually learning the material. By creating a classroom based on inquiry the students are having experiences with the material to facilitate their learning versus the traditional sit and get approach. Not only does this better engage the learner, it is teaching them life skills to help them be successful in their career. It is not allowing them to find ‘the’ right answer, it makes them determine their answer and provide evidence to back up their claim.

We have been taught for years that doing things that are hands­-on better facilitates the learning, hands­on works because it is creating an experience and it is engaging a different part of the brain. I have come to realize that it is not so much about providing hands-on experiences but it is about providing brains-­on experiences which is exactly what an inquiry based classroom does.

Bates, A. W. (2015).  Choosing and using media in education: the SECTIONS model. In Teaching in a Digital Age. (8.1 - 8.10). 

Bates, A.W. (2015).  Appendix 2: Questions to guide media selection and use. In Teaching in a Digital Age. (S-S). 

Handler, J. [TedxTalks]. (2015, Nov. 22). Technology in education [Video file].

Mackenzie, W. (2002) Multiple Intelligences and Instructional Technology: A Manual for Every Mind. Eugene, Oregon: ISTE