Jenny O'Fee

What memory do you have of a meaningful learning experience as a child? More often than not our most meaningful learning experiences don’t happen in school. How can this be? Isn’t school supposed to be where we do our learning? Today, in my mind, education should strive to build the bridge between daily life experiences and learning in the classroom. Often, our significant learning experiences as a child are linked to learning to do something collectively as a team; or a creative project or challenge when we felt curiousity to find out more; or when we had the motivation and desire to achieve a goal.

Finding out what young learners are curious about and sparking their interest is key. As is a shared understanding of the purpose behind the learning activities they are experiencing in school. The more that learning is meaningful and engaging to students, the more actual lasting learning will happen.

With so much talk about individualised learning, learner responsibility and personalized learning journeys, I found this interesting reading:

how-students-can-take-charge-of-their-education

It may be somewhat extreme, but the message seems to be simple: sharing personal learning goals, allowing learner’s to take responsibility, reflecting on learning and making authentic connections, are all central to instilling a desire to become lifelong learners.