Engaged and Worthwhile Learning
by Margaret B. Tinzmann, Claudette Rasmussen, and Mary Foertsch
This essay provides a brief explanation of engaged and worthwhile learning. It is helpful if, as you read,
you consider how engaged learning plays out in your own classroom and how valuable, or worthwhile, this learning
is to your students. It is also helpful to discuss the ideas in the essay with your colleagues, both those taking
the course and others you work with daily. We also recommend sharing it with your principal.
Research indicates that achieving engaged learning depends
on what students do, what teachers do, learning tasks students
perform, and the assessment associated with those tasks. When
these areas have certain characteristics, or indicators, they
signify that engaged learning is taking place. These indicators,
listed here and shown in the Concept Map
of Engaged Learning Indicators, are described in detail
below.
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Students are explorers, teachers, cognitive apprentices, producers of knowledge, and directors and managers of
their own learning.
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Teachers are facilitators, guides, and colearners; they seek professional growth, design curriculum, and
conduct research.
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Learning tasks are authentic, challenging, and multidisciplinary.
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Assessment is authentic, based on performance, seamless and ongoing, and generates new learning.
Engaged learning is worthwhile when it helps students reach important standards such as those developed by many
districts, states, and professional organizations. These standards encompass learning and thinking strategies and
higher-order skills upon which a school or district can base its curriculum. (See, for example, National Science
Education Standards, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, International Reading Association, and National
Council of Teachers of English as well as standards in individual states.)
Standards are not intended to dictate the specific content
of the curriculum or the particular means by which students
learn important skills and strategies; individual teachers,
content or grade-level teams, or other groupings of teachers
and administrators must make these decisions. But standards
provide a useful guide that allows for flexibility in specific
applications along with a solid direction toward worthwhile
learning.
©1997-99 North Central Regional Educational Laboratory
1-800-356-2735 NCRTEC
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