This week’s session was one I wasn’t overly sure about, looking at the readings (or, rather, ‘watchings’). While I thought entrepreneurialism was important for secondary school students, I didn’t think it’d present too many ideas for my students. Boy, was I wrong.
We started with a game of Market Share.
All about building your business to fit your potential customers, it was incredibly engaging and lacked the frustration factor that games like Monopoly have. While it was designed for college and university students, I’ll be very keen to have Nick visit and play the game with my Year Eights, as I think they’ll get a lot out of it. The best part would have to be that you can play it in multiple sittings, so it could quite easily slot in as part of a Maths rotation.
A Different Definition of ‘Real World’
It turns out my definition of ‘real world problem solving’ is either outdated or completely wrong. Previously, I have treated ‘real world’ as could potentially happen in the real world but this example is fake. This, it turns out, doesn’t constitute real world.
The internet has changed the level and quality of work students can achieve and for the better. Resources available today make it possible for more students to solve actual problems, rather than the made up ones we give them. This got me to thinking about how I could change what I do in my classroom in order to support my students to address real issues.
We have a health unit, normally taught in Term 3, which we refer to as Service Learning. I think when it was started it was meant to encourage students into the community and teach the value of doing good, but I’m not sure that’s what it is quite achieving today. Looking at the resources students have immediately available through the internet, as well as the resources within reach, I think that the unit has the potential to be something better. I’m not quite sure exactly how just yet, but at least I have two terms to figure that out.
One thing I’ll definitely be showing my students is one of the Young Ocean Explores YouTube videos – if she can achieve what she achieved at age twelve, my students are certainly capable of similar.
Hannah Learns 