Field Trip Leads to Interest-Driven Studies in the Classroom

Sandra Jackson and her students recently ventured to The Museum of Science and Industry for a very exciting field trip.  The students participated in the Black Creativity Workshops being offered at the museum.  The fifth and eighth grade students got to explore the mindful work of an artist who simply used correction tape as a foundation for his exhibit.  Another workshop encouraged the students to design and prototype some solutions to a few science challenges.

The field trip served as a great hands-on, engaging opportunity for the students, as well as an eye-opener for Sandra Jackson.  She observed that her students were much more enthustiastic about their learning while visiting the museum versus participating in projects at school.  Jackson questioned one student about the heightened level of excitement. The student simply replied, “I had a chance to create my OWN project.”

This made Jackson think.  In her recent ImagineIT project update she shared, “This spoke volumes to me. It helped me see that I need to let go and allow my students to become the leaders in their exploration and creativity. Rather than I choose the tasks, I needed to allow the students to have opportunities where they pursue their areas of interest.”

Since the field trip, Jackson has admitted that her STEM Lab looks a bit different.  She has encouraged her students to seek out their own interests and explore.   Students are embracing the opportunity and beginning to study topics such as web page development, robotics, photo editing and fashion design.  She is noticing that her students are so much more willing to do the research and tackle problems.

Interest-driven studies=Happy students!