Introduction
What happens when student interest and prior knowledge are incorporated into curriculum?
When I was in fifth grade, two of my classmates and I prepared and served portion-controlled Philadelphia cheesesteaks to a group of parents and teachers. We had selected what food we would serve, planned exactly how much we would need per serving, and figured out the cost per serving. Working together to make decisions and to problem-solve, this project was entirely student-led. Perhaps it was the ability to make choices and to explore what was of interest to us, or perhaps it was collaborating with my classmates; standing in the main hallway and explaining our process for making perfectly portioned cheesesteaks stands out as one of the most memorable moments in my education. I remember feeling proud that we had accomplished the assignment and that people were enjoying our product.
Throughout my experience in an elementary education setting, I have noticed that the most powerful tools and methods to obtain and maintain student engagement and participation are student-centered. Whether it is an open invitation for a student to build a tower out of wooden blocks, a discussion about a time when one was brave, or a creating a ‘parking lot’ filled with student-written questions, student-centered environments are directly connected to increased engagement and interest. I believe that activating prior knowledge is key to initiating interest. Along with prior knowledge, I believe that giving students a chance to pursue their own interests leads to engagement.
Through the incorporation of choice and creativity into coursework design, students can explore what is of interest to them. Woven within my pedagogical focus is the importance of incorporating multiple intelligences into the design. I believe that when a student shows a preference for any intelligence, they innately increase engagement with the material. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences became important to me from the moment I was introduced to his work. In thinking about my own experience as a student, I gravitated towards certain subjects because of my predispositions for the intelligences that they incorporated. Although students generally have to function within certain guidelines depending on the assignment, the ability to choose and the ability to practice a favored intelligence positions students as their own agents, and increases interest in the activity or task at hand.
In writing about my focus question during the end of my first semester of student teaching, I emphasized that the best way to activate prior knowledge and student interests is to incorporate these elements into a unit that lasts from weeks to months. Governed by the Reggio Emilia approach, the Dinosaur Project as discussed in The Hundred Languages of Children continues to be an inspiration for my pedagogy. Spanning the course of four months, this project is an idyllic representation of a unit that is entirely student-driven and designed. My two-week takeover gave me the opportunity to further examine my inquiry question in a longer spanning amount of time. Although I was given the specific topic of the Freedom Riders for my unit, I was able to incorporate student interests and prior knowledge into the curriculum.
As I examine my experience in retrospect, I feel that I have a deeper understanding of how my decisions on curriculum design reflect student learning. I am able to see more narrowly how incorporating student interest and prior knowledge leads to increased engagement and authentic understanding of the material. Reflecting on the pedagogical effectiveness and consequences of my design decisions has made me more aware of the notion of extent, or degree. Just as my question can be answered to an extent, I believe that one can incorporate individual interests to an extent. This extent is dependent upon the guidelines of the assignment, and how they fit into the subject and its mandated learning targets. Similarly, “understanding is more a matter of degree” (Tomlinson & McTighe, p. 65, 2006). I am interested in how the incorporation of student interest and prior knowledge affect a student’s degree of understanding.
In looking at student work, I became aware of a correlation between the creativity involved with the assignment with the quality of student work, or rather, between authentic assessments and evidence of engagement. The more creative the assignment, the more flexibility of choice the students had. The flexibility allowed students to express their interests more readily, in turn connecting them more authentically with the assignment. Through creativity and using choice as a vehicle to promote student agency, engagement and degrees of understanding seemed to increase.
When I was in fifth grade, two of my classmates and I prepared and served portion-controlled Philadelphia cheesesteaks to a group of parents and teachers. We had selected what food we would serve, planned exactly how much we would need per serving, and figured out the cost per serving. Working together to make decisions and to problem-solve, this project was entirely student-led. Perhaps it was the ability to make choices and to explore what was of interest to us, or perhaps it was collaborating with my classmates; standing in the main hallway and explaining our process for making perfectly portioned cheesesteaks stands out as one of the most memorable moments in my education. I remember feeling proud that we had accomplished the assignment and that people were enjoying our product.
Throughout my experience in an elementary education setting, I have noticed that the most powerful tools and methods to obtain and maintain student engagement and participation are student-centered. Whether it is an open invitation for a student to build a tower out of wooden blocks, a discussion about a time when one was brave, or a creating a ‘parking lot’ filled with student-written questions, student-centered environments are directly connected to increased engagement and interest. I believe that activating prior knowledge is key to initiating interest. Along with prior knowledge, I believe that giving students a chance to pursue their own interests leads to engagement.
Through the incorporation of choice and creativity into coursework design, students can explore what is of interest to them. Woven within my pedagogical focus is the importance of incorporating multiple intelligences into the design. I believe that when a student shows a preference for any intelligence, they innately increase engagement with the material. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences became important to me from the moment I was introduced to his work. In thinking about my own experience as a student, I gravitated towards certain subjects because of my predispositions for the intelligences that they incorporated. Although students generally have to function within certain guidelines depending on the assignment, the ability to choose and the ability to practice a favored intelligence positions students as their own agents, and increases interest in the activity or task at hand.
In writing about my focus question during the end of my first semester of student teaching, I emphasized that the best way to activate prior knowledge and student interests is to incorporate these elements into a unit that lasts from weeks to months. Governed by the Reggio Emilia approach, the Dinosaur Project as discussed in The Hundred Languages of Children continues to be an inspiration for my pedagogy. Spanning the course of four months, this project is an idyllic representation of a unit that is entirely student-driven and designed. My two-week takeover gave me the opportunity to further examine my inquiry question in a longer spanning amount of time. Although I was given the specific topic of the Freedom Riders for my unit, I was able to incorporate student interests and prior knowledge into the curriculum.
As I examine my experience in retrospect, I feel that I have a deeper understanding of how my decisions on curriculum design reflect student learning. I am able to see more narrowly how incorporating student interest and prior knowledge leads to increased engagement and authentic understanding of the material. Reflecting on the pedagogical effectiveness and consequences of my design decisions has made me more aware of the notion of extent, or degree. Just as my question can be answered to an extent, I believe that one can incorporate individual interests to an extent. This extent is dependent upon the guidelines of the assignment, and how they fit into the subject and its mandated learning targets. Similarly, “understanding is more a matter of degree” (Tomlinson & McTighe, p. 65, 2006). I am interested in how the incorporation of student interest and prior knowledge affect a student’s degree of understanding.
In looking at student work, I became aware of a correlation between the creativity involved with the assignment with the quality of student work, or rather, between authentic assessments and evidence of engagement. The more creative the assignment, the more flexibility of choice the students had. The flexibility allowed students to express their interests more readily, in turn connecting them more authentically with the assignment. Through creativity and using choice as a vehicle to promote student agency, engagement and degrees of understanding seemed to increase.