”Sit still. Raise your hand. Be quiet.”
These were the tools for teaching in years gone by. By contrast, the classroom of the `90s takes a different view: ”Get up. Move around. Talk to your neighbor.”
As for the old approach (”Read Chapter 7 and answer the questions at the back”), teachers are discovering through a variety of district staff development programs, their own research and peer consultation that there are other ways to get the point across.
James Cox, science coordinator in Hinsdale Elementary School District 181 for grades kindergarten through 8th, said there are many exciting new approaches to teaching.
As a selected Honors Science Teacher for Illinois and as a consultant for the education department at Fermilab, Cox is exposed to and involved in the cutting edge of research in teaching methodology.
”We`re hearing from corporations that students coming out into the work force are not trained for life,” Cox said. ”They have a lot of facts in their head but they don`t know what to do with them. They also are having trouble getting along and making a difficult situation workable.”
With that in mind, textbooks are being used more as references; hands-on activities that directly involve the kids in problem solving are being introduced and used much more frequently.
Kris Voreis, a math teacher at Jefferson Middle School in Aurora with a recent master`s degree in curriculum and instruction, said that this problem solving and cooperative learning approach works especially well in math.
”The kids love it and I love it,” she said. ”It takes more work to prepare, but it`s a lot more fun to teach when you`re not tied to a textbook.”
In Batavia, where there is a strong commitment to staff development programs, Janet McAlpin`s class at McWayne Sixth Grade Center is a good example of current thinking in classroom learning.
Rows of handmade globes dangle overhead to the rhythm of ceiling fans. Although it`s cold outside, the heat from 32 active, bright-eyed, 11-year-olds has warmed up the room. The teacher is sweating.
Students are seated in desk clusters of four, all facing inward toward one another. With the zany mirth that only preteens can muster, they eye one another eagerly.
The task at hand is to analyze the characters from a short story.
McAlpin instructs them to work individually. Using a web design, they must write the name of whom they think is the most reprehensible character in the center of a circle. Next, they write reasons for their choice in spokes jutting out from the center of the web.
”This is to help you think about your thinking,” McAlpin explains.
”You`ll have support for how you arrived at your decision.”
After a few minutes of quiet, individual work, the game plan changes.
”You are to work with three other people you haven`t worked with before and that you don`t know very well,” McAlpin instructs.
The classroom momentarily erupts into chatter and movement as the students change groups. McAlpin, who has no height advantage on these 6th graders, nevertheless observes with a keen eye.
”Sorry,” she says. ”You two work together all the time.” Their con discovered, the two shrug and move off in different directions.
Once settled, each person in the group takes on a task such as recorder, time keeper or leader. McAlpin explains that each group must come to a consensus on who the most reprehensible character is.
”Remember, the majority rules. You may, however, disagree in an agreeable manner.”
With that, the mood shifts to the high drama of a courtroom scene. Using the precision of good defense attorneys, each group works to achieve its goal. So, what`s going on here?
”Everything,” McAlpin answers as the kids break for lunch.
”The whole impetus of this lesson and others like it is critical and creative thinking,” she explained. ”We`re looking at problem solving at its highest form, (that is) analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating.”
According to McAlpin, who holds a master`s degree in curriculum and instruction, the whole approach to teaching is changing. The focus is more on the thinking process and problem solving. No longer do teachers stand in front of a class and dish out information.
”Current approaches help teach the student thinking strategies,”
McAlplin said. ”We want them to stop and reflect, `How did I get here? What process did I use?”`
McAlpin said that by involving the kids more directly in the process of learning the information becomes more relevant and the kids become much more motivated.
”They get so excited, so charged,” she said. ”By making the classroom student-centered as opposed to teacher-centered, a much higher level of curiosity and retention is achieved.”
Hinsdale`s Cox said, ”Some teachers have been following this approach for a long time. But we`re seeing more and more teachers incorporating this method into the classroom because it works so well.”
Giant, walk-through cells that Cox`s classes recently built are an example of this hands-on type of lesson. Using clear plastic, duct tape and box window fans for inflation, the students constructed cells measuring 14 feet long, 12 feet high, and 7 feet wide.
”We used to have the kids draw, label and color the cells in order to learn about them,” Cox said. ”Building the cells gave them a much stronger understanding of how a cell is constructed. They also learned how to work together.”
Another hands-on activity Cox used was having each student build an air-powered car. Materials consisted of one piece of paper, a paper clip, one straw, two index cards and tape.
”Their cars didn`t always work, so they had to go back and rethink the problem,” Cox said. ”As an incentive, their grade went up for every three feet the car moved.”
Cox says the kids respond well to these type of activities.
”They love it,” he said. ”They really have to use the facts that are in their heads. They get very involved and learn quickly.”
One disadvantage for the teacher in such student-centered classrooms is that more preparation is required.
”It`s a lot easier to toss out a worksheet and have the kids write in the answers,” Cox said. ”But it`s amazing how much the kids remember if they touch, manipulate and do.
”We need to take kids where they can live in a technological society,”
Cox said. ”This can`t be done by just reading text books.”
During homecoming this year, Voreis` classes at Jefferson Middle School started out by dividing into groups and problem solving the design of a homecoming float. They worked together to budget their money and moved on to discover which answers worked and why.
”It`s hard at first for the kids to work in groups when they`ve been used to sitting in rows,” Voreis said. ”But cooperative learning teaches social skills and also fosters self-esteem.
”The kids feel so good about themselves and get so puffed up when they discover the answer and can help another in the group to understand.”
Voreis said that many of these teaching methods have been around for a while, but their use is spreading because the learning is so successful.
”The teacher`s role is more one of guidance and facilitator,” Voreis said. ”Kids are really learning to teach themselves. They`re becoming lifelong learners.”
