We've all seen "the look" from students that tells us what a new survey published by Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation confirms: many students are uninspired, disengaged, and downright bored at school.
"Unless what they're learning is engaging and interesting, they're going to be bored—the boredom is related to the quality of instruction," said Marc Brackett, Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, the lead researcher on this online survey of 22,000 high school students nationwide. The survey asked the question: "How do you currently feel in school?" The top three one-word write-in responses were: tired (39%), stressed (29%), and bored (26%).
So, what's the solution?
Learn by Doing
A variety of blended learning teaching models have emerged during the past five years, in which individualized online learning supplements traditional classroom instruction. Apex Learning digital curriculum engages students in lessons that includes multiple opportunities to explore, apply, practice, and confirm their understanding.
See the Learn by Doing Approach in Action
In other online learning programs, students learn passively as they sit and watch an onscreen teacher lecturing and modeling the lesson. Students are then asked to confirm what they observe. They move directly from observing to confirming, bypassing the important active steps that create long-lasting, deeper understanding.
Each Apex Learning lesson includes multiple opportunities for students to explore, apply, practice, and confirm their learning, helping them to visualize concepts and extend their learning. This active learning approach develops critical thinking skills and deep understanding that prepares them for success.
The Learn by Doing approach is proven to increase graduation rates, decrease dropout rates, and improve student achievement.
Active Learning Brings Ideas to Life
Apex Learning integrates interactive media into every lesson through 17 unique activity types, bringing ideas to life. Students progress through course content interacting with each concept as they are prompted to observe, inquire, create, connect, and confirm. Instructive feedback is immediately provided as students apply their understanding, creating a continuous interplay with the subject matter that keeps students attentive and motivated.