Success StoryWhy Learn This Stuff?



Why Learn This Stuff?

Author: Jan Gibson

Planning Unit: Perry County CES

Major Program: Leadership

Plan of Work: Leadership Development

Outcome: Initial Outcome

About the trailing edge of the school year, students started coming back into the buildings for class.  Many of them were struggling with their grades, most of those could be described as visual learners.  The months and months of on-line learning had eroded not only their grades, but their self confidence to learn.  One school offered a three week summer school to students who wanted to make up work.  Even this five- day- a- week, full day opportunity during the summer became more of a punishment.  The 4-H program was asked to liven up the day with "some kind of something" for the students.  This sounded like a pretty wide open challenge so the plan was to offer a smorgasbord of hands-on activities. The students spent their first 4-H period building NXT robots which lead into that being the SET week.  They tried their hand at programming as well as using the National 4-H STEM Challenge Mars Base Camp rovers. Another session was 4-H woodworking and the youth built birdhouses and learned about the Eastern Bluebird. The following week was learning to bake week. They learned to use measuring spoons and measuring cups and because of covid were sent home with a cookie kit to make at home for their families.  Another session was in communications and they taught each other tongue twisters.  In Natural Resources the youth reviewed watersheds and took turns relaying their individual stories of their travels as a drop of water. The teacher has named five of these students to serve as leaders come Fall to teach the two 7th grade classes using this activity.  They seemed eager to get to do that.  Lastly, each child was given a piece of cloth, needle, thread, and two buttons.  They learned to sew on buttons. "Why do we need to know this?" one asked "My granny can do this."  "Because your granny won't last forever," said another. "You better be learning." And so they did. 






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