Loving Learning

This video taught me about the various ways that students can learn and engage in learning by doing the things they love. Project learning was not only the video's title but also a theme in which educators and getting student involved and excited about ideas and concepts. I learned from watching the video that the more students feel involved in what they are learning the more information they will retain. Everything from building robots to designing blueprints to doing scientific experiments was used to show children of all ages that the things they learn in class can be used later in life and can often be used in ways that are interesting and fascinating. Every child interviewed was very excited about what they were learning.



When I was in 4th grade we were able to do many projects about things we were learning. This is just one of the many reasons that 4th grade was by far my favorite grade. My teacher was truly concerned not only about our educations but about every student she had as an individual. I knew even as a 9 year old that she wanted us to enjoy what we were learning as well as build knowledge. We created our own volcanoes, made robots, traveled to Hawaii (in our imaginations), created crystals, and tons of other things! The excitement that the students in the video had for their projects and educations didn't come as a surprise to me at all because I knew first hand what a drastic difference project learning could do to a child's attitude.

Hands on activities and project learning are something that have always been very important to me as a future teacher but even more so now that I've got a glimpse of how they've effected students around the world. I want to implement as many projects into my own classroom as possible. This will be easy to do since I hope to be a kindergarten teacher and my students will need a lot of activity time anyway. I feel that true learning will only happen when a child is excited about a lesson and the best way to do that is to get their minds working on a project.