Student Benefits
How students benefit when teachers take WIDE World courses
In May 2007, 222 teachers completed a
WIDE World final course evaluation. The
survey was
designed to help WIDE World understand
the impact of its six-session 2007
courses on the
participating teachers as well as
their students. Below, we have included
our findings, which
suggest that WIDE World courses provide
teachers with strategies to enhance
student engagement,
increase student confidence, boost
student motivation, and ultimately
improve the overall quality
of student learning. These findings are illustrated with
quotes from this and past semesters.
Of the 222 classroom teachers completing a WIDE World
end-of-course evaluation in May 2007, 85% agreed or
strongly agreed that their course resulted in greater
student engagement in class, and 70% felt that students
had become more interested in their learning.
'[Students are] understanding history is alive
and not dead but relevant. Their approach to studying
history has changed. They now understand the need to
study history and have developed a love for the
subject.'
-- high school history teacher,
Uttar Pradesh, India
'My students have become so much more engaged
in their work. For those students that were reluctant to
participate in many assignments, they now volunteer to
participate!!'
-- middle school teacher,
Louisiana, USA
'Giving attention to each student's
understanding vs. just covering material seems to be
noticed and appreciated, being signified by the added
active participation of previously more
peripheral/spectator students.'
-- teacher
from Mississippi, USA
70% of survey respondents felt that the course had
already resulted in more confident students.
'My students learned a great deal about
themselves as learners and as co-operative builders in a
big undertaking. They have the confidence to present a
piece of history to a public audience.'
--
history teacher, Saskatchewan, Canada
'[...] They are invested, and excited, and
working in a realm that feels right for them. A beautiful
thing to watch!'
-- teacher from
Massachusetts, USA
"They are not as afraid to try their ideas as they
used to be."
-- Niclas Sjoberg, high school math
and religion teacher, Stockholm, Sweden
"'I could read it FOR MYSELF.' I was surprised,
actually. I had thought they could read it for
themselves! Had taken it for granted, really. But they
had been insecure about their skills, had waited for the
usual teacher-explanation of what the text meant, and
they had had to adjust to the teacher not 'telling.'
[... And] they had a new attitude about the value of
English itself, about coming to class. Some said 'I
liked not dreading it.' Others said, 'Dreading it? I
loved it! I looked forward to English.'
--
Sylvia Sarrett, English teacher, Miami, Florida, USA
'In teaching the unit on poetry that was the
focus of our team's differentiation project, we realized
how much we had changed students' perceptions about
poetry. Where they began the unit cringing at the thought
that they would have to analyze poems, they ended with a
lot more confidence in approaching poems. Many can even
be said to have ended up enjoying the poetry
unit.'
-- Carla Guedes, high school special
education teacher, American International School of
Johannesburg, South Africa
Teachers have reported that WIDE World courses give them
tools to boost student motivation. On the May 2007
survey, 74% felt that it had increased student motivation
to take on challenging work. Coupled with this increased
motivation is often a greater sense among students that
they understand the goals of their courses. Teachers'
application of Teaching for Understanding tends to help
students see why they are studying what they are, and
where their work will lead them next. Teachers have told
us,
'Students seem to better understand the level
of my expectations and ask more specific, relevant
questions while working.'
-- high school
teacher, Saskatchewan, Canada
"The changes in peer assessment and the addition of
more rubrics have the students more engaged in their
learning. With all of the new and clear directions, the
students are secure about how to get the grade they want.
They know HOW now to create more quality work"
--
Jeri Cocchi, teacher from Sarasota, Florida, USA
'My students feel like more a part of the
learning process. They like helping to set up and
understand unit goals. It has increased student
ownership of their own education.'
-- Julia
Holden, high school teacher, Hialeah, Florida,
USA
Students may respond to this enhanced perspective on
learning
by taking greater responsibility for that learning.
Along these lines, teachers have reported:
"They now make recommendations for what
we might do to reach our understanding goals.'
-- Caroline Carr, literacy and photography teacher, West
Oakland, California, USA
'When I assessed their progress I realized
that the strategy was extremely effective. Thanks to the
course my students are enjoying the class more. Many of
my students have blossomed into independent learners and
those who need help are now brave enough to seek it in
either from me, their peers or the resources that are
made available. This strategy has revealed and developed
a lot of talent in my class!'
-- teacher from
New York State, USA
'The students are telling me why we're
learning something. They're telling me why they need to
know this information and how they're going to use
it.'
-- K-2 teacher, Saskatchewan, Canada
Engagement, interest, confidence, motivation, and
responsibility are all prerequisites to learning; what
about the quality of student learning itself? Again, just
three months into their WIDE World experience, 64% of
educators reported that because of the course students
were producing higher quality work. And 95% found that
the course had in one respect or another led to
improvements in student learning and understanding.
Teachers reported these benefits regardless of their
level of teaching experience, as the following graph
demonstrates:
In fact, across the range of courses that we offer, and
in a variety of countries in six continents, we have
obtained similarly favorable results. This is clear in
the following chart:
We close with a selection of quotes, from teachers in
a variety of countries, subjects, and grade levels, in
which they described the benefits they observed for
student learning.
'Definitely it has made a difference in
student understanding.'
-- K-2 teacher,
Saskatchewan, Canada
'[Students] were better able to understand the
concept of a history developing decision-by-decision and
action-by-action, and to begin asking more sophisticated
hypothetical questions [...] Instead of learning facts
they might have considered boring or irrelevant, my
students became deeply and personally involved in a
period of history. They developed an understanding of
historical perspective and used the knowledge they
acquired as a tool towards a new and original
end.'
-- Anna Siegal, elementary teacher,
Mexico City
[...] Last semester I taught a class of students who
had all failed Pre-Calculus the Semester before. In the
begining when I asked them to discuss their understanding
of each topic and procedures. They were very reluctant
to reveal their lack of knowledge. As we explored why
the math worked the way it did, they began to give
opinions and try new ways to solve problem. Many said
'no one had ever asked them their opinion of math'. One
student in particular began to read on her own and try
new ideas. At the end to the semester she mastered the
topic and achieved A. She wrote me a note saying no one
had ever gone into her brain and helped her find thoughts
she did not know she could have [...]"
-- Cheryl
Foreman, high school teacher/administrator, Kingston,
Jamaica
'[Students have demonstrated] a clearer
understanding of the topics discussed.'
--
high school English teacher, Australian Capital
Territory, Australia
"The children learned better than previous years and
are applying their knowledge daily when making healthy
food choices. REAL LEARNING! My daughter was studying
the same material in grade 7--all paper and pencil
material, tests etc. and my grade two students knew more
about nutrition than she did and she is an average
student."
-- Therese Durston, 2nd grade teacher, St.
Olivier School, Radville, Saskatchewan, Canada
'Students tend to ask more critical questions
[...] They are able to synthesize what they have learned
inside and outside school.'
-- Marliana Bte
Md Ramli, foreign language teacher, Victoria School,
Singapore
'[...] More kids have: 1. turned in their
work. 2. received higher grades for their final
drawings. 3. a deeper understanding of quality work.
Otherwise, fewer kids would have turned in their
work.'
-- middle school art teacher, Maine,
USA
RBS, September 21, 2007
