Recently I went to a 5th grade STEM class, on a very cold and dreary winter day in a Chicago suburb. The class started at 8:00 a.m. yet all 20-plus kids were in attendance–some actually arrived early. A few of them had just come from band practice so it wasn’t even their first work period of the day. Still, they were wide awake, attentive, and eager to get to the task at hand.
I came to see them work with a new STEM program that we had been field-testing at elementary and middle schools–as well as after-school clubs–across the country. The program, called CryptoClub, was developed by math professors who are currently working with an NSF (National Science Foundation) grant at the UChicago STEM Ed. Department. The program is designed to help students understand and use the mathematics necessary to encrypt and decrypt messages, the foundation of cryptography, which has many practical applications for cybersecurity and coding. Because it is a pilot and not yet adopted as part of the daily curriculum, Cryptoclub is being implemented either before or after school, and often in the library or resource center.
At this particular class, I observed a variety of things taking place simultaneously: kids working in groups; some working independently; others asking questions of the teacher; some helping others solve problems. Everyone was a learner, a teacher, and a team member.
My takeaway was that in spite of it being so early in the day with a busy schedule ahead of them–and even though participation in the program was completely voluntary–both the teacher and the students were fully engaged in learning. They were focused on solving problems, understanding different ways of getting to the same conclusion, and they were excited about sharing what they were learning.
At one point, a student went in front of the class and explained the methodology he used to decrypt a code using a multiplicative cipher, key 3, which he could have solved in several different ways, as his classmates were quick to point out. It was gratifying to see how quickly student became teacher and how teacher became facilitator–and to observe students take control of the learning process by collaborating naturally.
This is the measure of success: teachers and students engaged in learning and talking about processes and results. There is no doubt in my mind that with engagement comes better performance. If students and teachers are engaged, teachers will be more fulfilled and students will achieve greater results.
Herein lies the answer to the “engagement” problem:
1, great teaching/facilitating;
2, motivated students;
3, material that enables 1 and 2.
We could also add technology that is seamless and works in concert with 1-3 above.
Having these elements at work is what we should strive for in every school, in every classroom, because engaged students perform better.
