By: Alexa Hankins Have you ever had a conversation about school with an older relative in which you describe a school project and they respond with something along the lines of "You kids have it so easy these days! Back in my day we had to memorize all that stuff by ourselves! No wonder today's kids are so lazy!" Well, instead of taking the coward's way out and responding with "ok boomer", you can read this post and learn exactly why the school system's changed, and why this change is actually for the better. In the U.S, there's been a big push in recent years to implement a new style of learning in math and science. This "new way" of learning is referred to in the scientific community as "inquiry based" or "problem based" learning. The idea behind this method is for students to discover learning for themselves. Usually, students are presented with a problem/question by the teacher, and they work with others to solve it. At the end of the activity, the teacher connects the processes and content they used to solve the problem and things they've learned in the past to explain the concept further. Although this may sound way too complicated to be something you've done before, chances are you have. For example, in my history class, our teacher taught us the concept of the scientific method with an activity in which our class had to come up with solutions with a problem. She had us face the front of the room before she told us the back wall was missing, but we could only disprove her claim by proving without looking. After my class came up with many good solutions, she told us the purpose of the activity was to show us how we are taught to be sceptical of things we are told unless were offered proof. However, at the time the scientific method was invented, it was a revolutionary concept because people back then were conditioned to accept the church's' word as the truth. For me, at least, this activity helped me understand the significance of the scientific revolution better than a lecture would have. But based on many studies done on the inquiry based method, it looks like I'm not the only student who learns better with it. One such study involved more than 17,000 students in four different countries; Peru, Paraguay, Belize, and Argentina. The point of the study was to convince the countries' governments that the new method was better. Not only did the research show that teaching the inquiry method would be more cost effective (18$ per student per subject for 0.1 standard deviation increase in test scores) but it also proved that it was a more effective teaching method. In the study, random preschool, 3rd, and 4th grade classrooms were instructed to teach either the standard or scientific method. The researchers found that classrooms that used the inquiry based method four times a week performed 0.14 of a standard deviation higher in science and 0.18 higher in math compared to classrooms that used the standard method to teach. Clearly, they had found a winner. Not only was this the biggest study ever done on the inquiry based method, it was the first to test preschoolers, proving that "that it is possible for younger children to think like a scientist", as lead researcher Emma Naslund-Hadley put it. So not only will this study establish reforms in other countries, it might end up affecting ours too. I'm sure you've noticed changes in recent years with the way your class operates. Maybe your school eliminated some tests and replaced them with creative projects, or your younger brother came home from school one day and announced that he no longer has to do skills sheets. But even though your parents might heckle you at 9pm at the kitchen table about the strange new way you're supposed to do math, you're not in the wrong at all. Learning never got easier- it just got smarter. Sparks, S. (2019). Students Learn More From Inquiry-Based Teaching, International Study Finds. Retrieved 26 November 2019, from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/10/09/students-learn-more-from-inquiry-based-teaching-international.html
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