Why Education Is Important

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Research shows that experiential learning boosts student engagement.

Project-based learning (PBL) is a big player in student learning.

Student engagement can be boosted.

Last week, I asked a teacher: “Well, you know how students learn best?”

She looked stumped. Is there a best way? Of course, we all learn in different ways.

But I replied, “The best way for children to learn is when they don’t even realize they’re learning at all,” and she said, with eyes wide open, “That’s good.” Because when learning is interesting, engaging, and even fun, we pay attention and absorb things like a sponge.

Too much “regular school” isn’t fun. Our contemporary world has created mechanisms for teaching that too often “teach to the test” or put an arbitrary ruler on a student that doesn’t capture their full capabilities. Observing a classroom, there was a student who was a brilliant visual artist, and whether she was in math, science, or Spanish, she always started drawing. Her genius or “element,” as Sir Ken Robinson would’ve said, was visual art. Today, years later, this student is........

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