This semester, I am enrolled in Instructional Design and Development and our major project is to create an instructional design document that addresses a problem. For my project, I am going to address the problem of student engagement in my regular environmental systems classroom.
For the past two years, I have been finding it increasingly difficult to keep my ES students engaged during instruction and activities. The importance of the course concepts has not changed; if anything, they have become more important in light of scientific advances, trends in climate, resource allocation and availability, and projections of future needs. Yet, my students seem less and less interested in learning about the environment around them and more about grinding through the 47 minutes. This is my instructional design problem...my first why.
I don't know why this is occurring. I know there is research on this generation of students (I teach high school, for those of you just tuning in to my blog). My students were born around 1995. In '95, I was starting high school, computers had already become a common fixture in people's homes, video games had established themselves and made significant advances, and the internet was growing beyond peer-to-peer networks only. We weren't quite at the point were affordable, high-speed internet access was as ubiquitous as it is today (who remembers the modem sound?). My generation was on the division between "old-school analogue" and complete technological saturation. My sons are growing up with the world, and world apps, at their fingertips (literally). Most of my students have had a cell phone in their hands for as long as they can remember. Some of them only have known smartphones. Some of the research has delved into how this exposure to instant access has affected motivation, information retention, and attention span. I think that is part of the problem. There are also questions about how changes in our schools, especially from NCLB in 2002, have influenced how we as teachers approach our classrooms. Has this created in our students a focus on the numbers: grades, accountability ratings, test scores, etc? Are our students now wired to worry about the grade and not if they actually learned anything? I think that is another part of the problem and I'm sure there are more parts that I am not seeing. I think that is my second why.
I can more definitively discuss why this is a problem, though. And, it isn't just because they are not paying attention in my class (yes, I do maintain a certain level of pride in my class and my motivations for teaching it). Science is important for a host of reasons all by itself: science classes fosters analytical and observational skills, critical thinking, and evaluation of facts. Critical evaluation of information is a skill that extends far beyond chemistry or forensic science. It allows you to separate facts from propaganda and skip the attempts to spread sensationalism and out-right lies. Environmental Science, in particular, allows students to develop and apply those skills to problems that they are facing in their world right now and what they can do to be part of the solution. Let me give you an example: most projections have our society running out of petroleum (literally the gas that fuels our civilization) in ~100 years. That means we will be feeling the effects of fuel shortages in our lifetime. My students are poised on the edge of another division, but the implications have the potential to be even greater. As the Onceler said, in Dr. Suess' The Lorax, "Now that you're here, the word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear. UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” Right now, I'm worried my students only care about their grade...the third why.
Ok, I admit...That got very lofty sounding and preachy, but ultimately, I worry about the world we are leaving our children. As an adult, I have come to appreciate what learning is and why we do it. I have become a learner for the sake of learning. It seems to me that my students are learning for the sake of getting by or passing. Once the ink dries on the report card, they have physically and mentally moved on to the next thing. I also think I am part of the problem because of my focus on what I have to do next and keeping the gradebook monster (and the school, and the school board, and the state) happy...why #4. The answer to my why #5 probably should have something to do with what I can do to get my students reinvolved in class so they have a stake in what they are learning beyond passing.
Whew!
In going through this process, I remember many things that I have been told in various professional development trainings about learning modes, teaching strategies, and philosophies on curriculum. I think I have many of the tools already at my disposal. My next step should be to determine how I can take these farther? How can I incorporate what I have learned through my progress through this program with what I have learned in PD to create something that I truely "next level"...something that I can take to the principal and say, "Look at this. This is something that works and here is my proof". I don't know if I will get there by the end of the course, but I at least have a direction to go.
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