What Does It Look Like?

Nick Hylla

Wisconsin Forest Resources Education Alliance

TPA 5/07

I’ve spent a fair amount of time over the last two years writing about forestry education’s potential to improve student learning in Wisconsin’s K-12 schools. I’ve been making the case that Wisconsin’s forestry education programs can be a model for systemic change in our K-12 schools. In this article, I’ll describe the classroom that K-12 schools should be working to create. That is, I’ll describe what a meaningful classroom looks like.

As student performance declines, schools face funding shortfalls, and global market trends place pressure on local economies, the transition to a meaningful and effective education system takes on greater and greater urgency. As you’ll see in the description that follows, a roadmap to success already exists.

In a meaningful classroom…

• Students learn across disciplines. Effective solutions to the problems that society faces are not confined to one learning discipline. Understanding and overcoming challenges requires the integration of knowledge from many fields, including history, economics, science, and art. In many of today’s classrooms, students memorize facts and simple relationships in textbooks in hopes of passing a test. But, even those who pass the tests have trouble applying the relationships in a new context. In a meaningful classroom, as students deal with problems, they are challenged to grapple with the big ideas and core concepts first. They then decide for themselves, with help from the teacher, the parts that require further investigation.

• Students have influence over what they learn. Meaningful classrooms give power to the learner to help decide what they need to learn. As students work together to identify the parts of the problem that require further investigation, it is the teachers’ job to facilitate. They must ensure that students stay on a pathway that will lead to positive learning outcomes. In this model, the teacher becomes part facilitator and part mentor. The student becomes part researcher and part entrepreneur.

• Students’ assumptions are challenged. In a meaningful classroom, students’ perspectives are a teacher’s cue for ensuing lessons. That is to say that a teacher recognizes that each student enters the classroom with a life experience that has led them to believe certain truths about the way the world works. Learning occurs when students begin to identify and understand their assumptions and are challenged to accord them with the concepts, principles, and facts at the root of real-life problems.

• Students tackle problems of emerging relevance. It is no surprise that students are more interested in learning when information is relevant to their experiences and interests. Relevance and meaning do not come from the curriculum, but rather come from the learner. In a meaningful classroom, teachers structure classroom experiences to create meaningful lessons for their students.

• Students apply knowledge and skills through experience. We’ve all had the experience that to retain information and gain skills, we have to actually put them to use. In a meaningful classroom, students put skills and information to use by conducting research and developing projects. Classrooms collaborate with subject matter experts and stakeholders in their community to plan, implement, and evaluate suitable projects. In doing so, students gain knowledge and skills and learn to apply them in real-life situations.

• Students serve their community. Active citizenship depends on a person’s knowledge of local issues, understanding of their community, and sense of empowerment. For this reason, students that are involved in community issues, tend to stay involved throughout their adult lives. Meaningful classrooms facilitate community collaborations that help students understand their responsibility and potential as a citizen.

• Students reflect on their learning experience. In a meaningful classroom, assessment is part of the learning experience. Students do not learn information just to pass a test. The learning experience is the test, and students are part of their own evaluation. Students learn to answer the questions, “What did I do effectively?” “How can I improve?” “What are my strengths?” “What goals should I set for myself?” Through reflecting on their own performance, students build a sense of personal responsibility for their education.

The classroom described above is often referred to as a “constructivist” classroom or a “community-based” classroom. It could more aptly be referred to as a reality-based classroom, since the learning process mimics that of real life. If we want our children to be prepared for the real world, and further, to solve the problems that we pass on, shouldn’t we give them some practice?

For questions, comments, or suggestions contact Nick Hylla at nick@wfrea.org or 715-295-0458.